


Till Kingdom Come

by KoalaBoi



Category: Polca, Taynew
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2019-10-23 08:26:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17679932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KoalaBoi/pseuds/KoalaBoi
Summary: Tay is the general of his kingdoms military, freshly appointed as the Emperors son's Personal Guard, To protect him with his life  and carry out his every order no Matter the task...But he soon discovers that he's falling in love with the prince who is already betrothed to the princess of a rival kingdom





	1. Chapter 1

Tay was sat on his pristine white horse, riding just a little ahead of the red and golden carriage that just from its appearance you could tell carried dignitaries. He had never agreed with the idea of putting the rich in luxurious carriages, it only made his job harder because they were so easy to spot by thieves and highway men, But Tay was one of the best fighters in Thailand, there was a reason he was appointed the position of the General of The Bangkok Military. All thought the current ruler’s empire was so vast, the main kingdom was cantered in Bangkok's Grand Palace which was most protected out of all palaces. Tay had been given the task of transporting the emperor’s nephew and many other council members from one kingdom to another, eliminating any threat that crossed their paths. Luckily for him, he could bring along three of his most trusted fighters in the events that a possible ambush DID occur.

Beside him on the murkiest auburn horse he had ever seen was his best friend Off who had trained alongside him since he could remember, they were inseparable, well other than when Off had constant leave from the military for 'health reasons' but everybody in their camp knew it meant he had planned to meet somebody or he just wanted to sleep around because he was bored with his responsibilities.

Behind the carriage rode the only other two people in his camp he trusted, and they were the least expected for the job.

Ohm, who was the least skilled in fighting in the full camp, but boy did he have eagle eyes, with a bow and arrow he could hit almost any target, moving, still, falling or even miles away, he always hit the centre. Tay had chosen him instantly for his private circle when he watched him lazily shoot an arrow from the dinner table in the centre of the camp and the shot was so accurate that it not only knocked his general badge off, but it pinned him by the shirt to a tree. All because Ohm had caught him taking extra bread from the supply’s basket.

And lastly sat heavily armoured was the most shocking to the military camp, Jane. Now being a girl and slipping into the military was hard enough to achieve, but as an excellent alchemist Tay only saw her as a plus to his team, he had seen her mix poisons the day before capture the flag training so everybody in the camp, including himself, were practically paralyzed within seconds of the accidental ingestion of it and he had even witnessed her bring back small animals from near death states and raise them right into perfect health once again.

Although his camp doubted the rest of them in hand to hand combat, nobody had taken the time to look over them in other skills which was exactly why Tay had picked them out to be part of this team.

They had only just left the darkest parts of the forest when Off raised a hand and looked around to halt the carriage.

"somethings wrong" he muttered but waved his hand for them to continue.

"what is it off? you know better than not to ignore your instincts." Tay said as they got into the open, the kingdom gates noticeable close ahead.

"nothing, i just felt uneasy, probably indigestion" he said before stopping again "nope i couldn't have sworn i just heard an-"

Above them was the harsh *SWHIP* of an arrow being shot then above them an explosion echoed out through the skies, followed by the loud caws and screeches of the ravens that swarmed the sky.

"ATTACKERS!" Ohm shouted as he had already drawn his bow, taking out an explosive that was mid-air.

Off looked at the gap they had to get through then patted Tays shoulder "get the carriage out of here..."

Tay looked across the higher grounds, there must have been at least twenty of them. "no wy! leaving you three to deal with that would be like sending you to your deaths."

"I don't care Tay, get out of here!" Off snapped before his horse was hit with an arrow taking it down.

"abandon your horses...OHM JANE OFF ABANDON YOUR HORSES AND CLIMB ON TOP OF THE CARRIAGE!" Tay shouted, taking over bow work and covering the other three. As Jane finally pulled herself up, Tay wasn't even on the Carriage yet when he yelled for it to go as fast and far as possible.

"TAY!" Off shouted, preparing himself to jump from the carriage or scream for it to halt.

"DON'T YOU DARE STOP!" Tay screamed over to them, he started to run through the opening to safety but as he got out into the opening he watched as Off tried to ready his bow.   
Tay hadn't been paying enough attention to his surroundings and the sudden sharp burning pain in his shoulder alerted him that something was wrong.

"TAY!" Off screamed as he watched the arrow hit through his friends’ shoulder.

Tay gasped at how painful it was, he had been hit with far too many arrows to count, it was always the damn shoulder too, but right now it hurt so bad. He stumbled forward before using his whole strength to force himself to his feet. "GET TO THE KINGDOM!" he screamed back.

Off gripped the carriage and looked at the hills in horror as Tay quickly fell from their view "no...no...WE NEED TO GO BACK!" Off snapped and considered leaping from their moving platform.

don't you DARE! It's our job to protect those in the cart! not him!" Jane snapped back and slapped at Offs head.

Soon the carriage stopped at the palace gates and Off tumbled down to the ground ready to head back before there was a *thud THUD THUUUD* of hooves along the cobble pathways.

"oh my god..." Ohm looked up in shock

"i can't believe it-" Jane said completely astounded.

"I KNEW IT! YOU ASS HOLE JUST YOU WAIT UNTIL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!" Off snapped and stomped, whining and complaining like a child at what had just come into view.

Tay was slouched over his white horse which was no longer a pristine white, the soft coat was dripping red, matching the revealed shirt of Tays shoulder. He still had the Arrow through his shoulder, hardly able to keep himself up as he looked over the kingdom. "they made it" he muttered with a smile "they...They...." Tay looked down at Off as his horse slowed, he squinted his eyes for a second before he felt himself falling from the horse.

"TAY!" The three shouted as they tried to catch him as he fell, blacking out when they all failed to catch him.

"idiot" he muttered on the way down to the ground.

 

He wasn't sure just how long he had blacked out for, but when he woke up he was down to his trousers, boots without his Armour OR his shirt. "what the...AH!" he turned to the side seeing Jane putting one of her herbal mixes on his wound.

"shut up you big baby, i've dealt with plague victims who whined less than you!" She snapped back, making Tay instantly shrink down.

"my...my bad...the dignitaries ...did they make it in alright?" Tay asked as he propped himself up as best he could, fidgeting whilst Jane tried to wrap his wound.

"yeah all safe thanks to you" Off said as he walked in with a bottle of some expensive looking alcohol "want some?" He offered the bottle to Tay who in a heart beat snatched it by the neck and drank as much as he could. anything to stop the pain in his shoulder could be great. "i forgot to mention you have to meet the emperor early tomorrow."

"WHAT?! Then why did you let me drink that?! and why am i...where am i..." Tay looked around frantically. "off where the hell am i?"  
"uh you're at the gardens..." Off replied

"the gardens? the bar? you took me to get patched up...at a BAR?!"

"NO! you're in my room which happens to the IN the bar, so technically you're not in the Bar...technically" Off grinned and patted his head before being shoved by Jane.

"this isn't a place for me, i'm going to head off, i'll meet you at the barracks in the morning, goodnight General, Goodnight Off" She bowed before leaning the place.

"what did she mean this isn't a place for her?" Tay asked, confused as to what she couldn't have meant by that.

"it's not a place for girls normally, Don't you know anything about the Gardens?"

"erm...no, i know its a bar?" Tay replied as he got up, raiding through Offs wardrobe, pulling out a white shirt to put over himself, hiding his torso and wound.

"it's home to the flower boys of the city" Off said as he leaned on the door.

"Flower? boys?" Tay had been out of the city far too long to keep up with the lingo "Off, buddy, pal, chum, i haven't been in the city for ten years...what exactly is a flower boy?"

"oh ho ho! You're gonna have a great first night back then..." Off said gripping Tays wrist, tugging him down the stairs into the main hall where people danced and drank and smoked exotic tobaccos and did basically anything that gave them a good time.

"a flower boy is one of the prettiest boys in the kingdom, they use their looks, their voices even their bodies to win people over, they use it for work or for fun. Some flower boys can just be small, delicate, precious and pretty. some will wear makeup or wear apparel like a woman's but most of the time they cover their faces apart from their eyes with jewellery and face scarfs. You get all types, nobody cares about who you are here, and word never leaves, if you come in here it’s because you've usually got something to hide" Off admitted then pointed to a specific area in which a group of pretty looking men sat.

"you weren't lying about the pretty boys..." Tay said as he walked with Off.

The floor was so crowded and Smokey that he had bumped right into somebody on his injured shoulder, turning quickly, not fully seeing their face due to them already passing through the crowds. The only thing he noticed were their eyes...both dark brown but one had a ring of gold around the iris of one.

"woah" he stuttered slightly, he hadn't broken eye contact with the person through the crowd until he was tugged away with Off into the small Booth.

"what were you looking at?" Off asked quickly before Tay shook his head.

"i...i'm not sure...i-" he shivered slightly then shook his head "i think Jane drugged my wound." he admitted then looked down seeing Ohm with his arms wrapped around a smaller male.

"ohm?! you always told us you had a girl back home! what the fuck are you doing?" Off asked looking at him a little shocked.

The taller, least feminine of the Flower boys looked up when Ohm tilted his head to face the group "this was the girl i was talking about" Ohm chuckled and leaned his head on his shoulder. "have you ever tried to tell your military group that you're gay? they would bludgeon you AND your wifey, so keep this on the down low for now." He said.

"aren't you at least going to introduce use?" Off questioned.

"I'm Toey…" The boy spoke before leaning back into Ohm who quickly sat up and pointed at Off.

"i'm not the only one who's been fucking about!" Ohm snapped and alerted Tay that Off had his arm around the smallest of the group.

"that's because this is the wifey i talk about asshole" Off laughed in response. "You know Gun already Don't you Tay?"

Tay nodded slowly "am i the only guy who likes girls here?" And everyone in the group bluntly answered 'yes'.

Tay huffed and drank with his friends that all messed around with their partners whilst he sat all night alone, those golden ringed eyes kept coming to mind more often with every drink that he had.

Soon Off had let Gun stand up to talk to somebody that had just passed their booth, out of boredom Tay had decided to eves drop on the conversation, not hearing a single word, but the person stood in a red and black hooded cape. obviously trying to hide their identity. In a place like this? Tay didn't blame them, the shame you would face if you were of higher status and caught here.

As Tay was about to turn back around, he caught sight of the persons eyes, seeing the golden ring once more. "Off...i...i need to go, i'll see you back at the barracks." he Stood up from his table and practically chased after them, once he had gotten to the dark quiet streets outside he had lost sight of them all together.

"how the..." Tay could hear the city guards approaching in the distance, 'Damn it' He muttered to himself, here was the last place he needed to be caught. The scandals it would cause. As he turned to look for somewhere to hide, he felt himself get tugged back into the darkness beside the Gardens building where no torch fire shone.

"hey what the-" He felt a hand over his mouth and soon he fell silent, it was more because his eyes had fallen upon the same golden rings.

"you know a general shouldn't be chasing after flower boys...it's not very...militant?" The golden eyed male spoke. His features were hard to make out from the darkness, plus the hood he still wore along with the makeup he obviously had on made figuring out who he was even trickier. he did take note of the blood red colour on his lips thought, but no matter what his gaze fell back on the golden rings of their eyes.

"how'd you know i was a general?" Tay questioned as he raised a brow.

"doesn't everybody know who you are...general...or shall i call you Tawan Vihokratana?" They asked, he could see the smirk visibly on their red lips.

"How do you know my full name?"

"I know a lot of things about a lot of people..." They spoke then gently ran their hand up his chest, towards his chin, tilting his head to make them look at them directly. "you ask an awful lot of questions don't you general?" He sighed and tutted.

Tay couldn't even break eye contact for a second, usually he could kick his way out of situations like this, but for now? he wasn't even bothered. "I ask what i need to, who knows, you could try kill me"

"and yet you continued to chase after me all night? General, i don't think you should come back to the gardens, your friends are always welcome...but you" He tutted "you have too great an image for it to be tarnished with scandals like this"

"scandals like what?" Tay asked before the male lowered their hood showing who they were before pressing a kiss to his lips gently, leaning back and patting his cheek.

Tays lips suddenly felt tingly, it wasn't from the peck, or the shock of who they were looking at, it was whatever their lips were laced with. He found himself leaning against the wall for support. "what...did you...wh...ait...wa..." Tay could hardly keep himself awake let alone standing as he slipped down the side of the building, the last thing he saw was the male putting his hood back up and wandering away, he couldn't remember anything other than red lips and golden eyes...


	2. Chapter 2

Tay tossed and turned in his bed, the only things that passed through his mind were the colours 'GOLD' and 'RED' He was so sure he had dreamed the events from the night before, that was until he suddenly felt pressure on his chest.

"come on Tay you can't die after one night of drinking!" He heard Off shouting as he felt a constant slapping on his face, he was awake, he knew he was, he knew he wasn't dead either...but why couldn't he move? He tried to remember back to last night. 'red...Red...the red lips.' He remembered being kissed then suddenly blacking out, he couldn't remember anything else, it really felt like a dream, but he just couldn't be sure. He would have to speak with Jane after he gained control of his body again.  
That moment came sooner than he thought because somebody, most likely Jane, had thrown Ice water over him, causing his body to completely twitch in shock at the coldness of the water.

"HOLY SHIT DON'T DO THAT!" Tay gasped as he shuddered and scrambled to sit up, looking around shocked and confused.

"Tay...are you okay? did you see the other side?! what did you see?!" off asked, Tay only signalled him to come closer.

"i...i" Tay stuttered before slapping Off across the head "somebody laced their lips with some kind of venom last night, i...i literally can't remember who apart from Golden eyes and the red lips.

Jane nodded and pointed to the small fire she had to the side of the barracks work table. "You've got an alchemist to help, whatever was laced, was still on your lips when you were dropped outside the barracks, it matches a similar reaction to what i usually make to get the younger recruits to sleep, but the paracletic toxins are from a very VERY rare snake, i haven't found one before." Jane admitted and walked over with a small herb drink. "this will help you get back on your feet, you'll feel like putty for the next hour or so."

Tay shook his head rejecting the drink "i don't need her-" Within the first second of his feet touching the ground he had already fallen face flat.

"the venoms are working away from your head, you won't have control of your legs, so unless you want carried to the emperor, I suppose you lie back down and drink this, you'll be fine in a few minutes that way." She hugged and practically had to spoon feed him.

Off sat at the side thinking "I think i saw Gun speak with the golden eyed flower boy, its part of his group, nobody knows their face though. i'll see what i can find out" He nodded.

Tay smiled then looked around "where is Ohm?"

"Home, he doesn't need to stay at the barracks like we do, because he owns land already, he was smart that way so when he visits each month he simply slips off there, he's staying with his lover." Jane said calmly.

"wait you knew he was?-"

"of course I did...i also know Off has a male Lover, and i know you spent the full night fantasizing over this male with the golden eyes..." Jane smiled and flicked her hair.

"how...I've never told you that!" Off snapped.

"actually you did, you sneaked into my supply tent thinking it was alcohol i kept stored by but you ended up out of your head babbling nonsense and i had to silence you before anybody else heard you. Ohm just told me, he trusted me with that" Jane said with a smile before slapping Tays arm.

"quit thinking about this gold eyes boy, you have work to do" She said grabbing Tays arms and dragging him to his feet. "get washed, get dressed, get to the palace NOW" Jane kicked at him.

  
Tay was the general but everybody basically answered to Jane,she was the scariest most of the time, but that's because she could mix medicines that could floor an elephant.

He had done everything she had said though, he had gotten ready into his Generals uniform and made his way to the main palace hall. kneeling before the Emperor, he hadn't seen him since he was sent away to train for the military.

"Stand ! Stand ! my boy, you don't need to be kneeling anymore, my kingdom is still standing thanks to you, in many ways i should be kneeling to you" The emperor smiled warmly before clearing his throat "i have a proposition for you, a promotion if you may, from the position of general of the Bangkok militia."

"of course my lord, any thing you instruct i will accept."

"you remember how your father served me right?" He asked to which Tay nodded.

"he served you with his life and even in death he will serve you on the other side..."

"well you understand how important, and how great an honour to serve the throne was for your father."

"yes my lord, it was the greatest moment of his life to be appointed as your personal guard" Tay didn't quite understand what the emperor was trying to hint at right now.

"i'd like you to do the same, for my son. The threats between kingdoms have grown so large recently. I no longer feel safe at night knowing my son isn't heavily guarded by somebody i trust. will you accept this Honour of becoming the prince's personal guard?"

Tay nodded and bowed his head "it would bring my family name great honour, i swear to protect your heir with note only my full abilities, but my life and any life after."

"then it is done, i must warn you of his tendencies...New has been caught sneaking over the palace walls and into the city late at night, trying to disguise himself, hanging around in cheap brothels and speakeasy's. will you be able to handle this work?"

"yes sir you have my word that i will protect your son as my father protected you." To Tay dying protecting the throne would be the greatest honour possible, his father died that way, his grandfather and even his great grandmother died serving the empress three generations before.

"alright, My Son should just be waking up, you should make your way through to become acquainted with him, i'm sure you know your way around the palace?"

"i know it like the back of my hand" Tay nodded then paused for a brief second. “who will be taking over the position of general?"

"Your second in command is handed the duty." The emperor said, only making Tay smile, he was going to be given the title of general finally...but he thought about the length of time you needed to be gone and questioned if Off would be willing to stay away for six and seven years at a time.

"i'll speak with them about the position later this evening to see what is best accustomed to them." Tay said and smiled.

"alright, oh and lastly, you may move out of the barracks and into the room beside my sons, it's safer that you're close by in case he calls on you" Tay nodded once more at the request, he didn't think there would be so much for just protecting one Guy. How bad could it be?

  
Tay had collected himself and took a second to take on all the information he had just received beforehand then set off down the hall towards the prince's room. Of course, it had to be the largest room, the most expensive bejewelled room in the full kingdom with the best view over the city. The issue was, the room faced onto the city, so anybody in the city that shouldn't have been, could see where the prince was easily. 'not the wisest' he thought to himself before knocking at the door once.

No reply ...

He knocked a second time.

Still No Reply.

Tay was starting to get bored of waiting and just opened the doors right into the prince's Room. Looking around the wide space then spotting a lump sprawled out across the bed beside the window.

"your highness..." Tay said as he nudged the bed, once again no damn reply. Tay put two fingers between his lips and whistled loudly enough to scare the prince awake.

"What the fuck! INTRUDER! INTRUDER! GUARD! GUAAAARD!" New shouted loudly as he threw a pillow at Tay and jumped up.

Tay gently batted the pillow to the side then raised a brow "what was that supposed to do? you're lucky i wasn't a damn intruder or you'd be dead, and your kingdom would be heir-less."

New looked at the person across from his and squinted his eyes before stepping back "ohhhh no...."

"what?" Tay asked bluntly then also looked at him squinted eyes "are you...wearing...lipstick?"

New kept his eyes to the ground and felt at his lips, like an idiot he touched the red gloss, losing feeling in his fingers. "uh, you never got with a girl and her lipsticks all over your lips in the morning?" he laughed nervously before turning away, wiping any traces of where he was last night off.

"who exactly are you? you aren't an assassin, unless you're another Greek one, they always fail to kill me" he rolled his eyes.

"i'm your new personal guard" Tay said simply and looked at New, confused, he recognized him from somewhere but just couldn't put his finger on it.

"well i don't need a baby sitter, thank but...no thanks" New shrugged and began to get ready.

Tay sighed "i'm the best bet you have of survival with the threats you've been facing"

"why because you're a general?" New asked

"yes...I'm a General, you're the second person that's guessed that right about me...is there something on me that screams General?" Tay asked as he scratched the nape of his neck in utter confusion.

"yes, you look tough, you look boring and you look awkward...like you don't know how to loosen up, you stand out too much, NOW since you're my new baby sitter...every night...the second night falls, i go out over the balcony so my father can't tell me off."

"he knows you sneak out Your highness, just take the front door" Tay replied

"don't call me that"

"what?"

"'Your highness' i don't know its formal and creepy" New added

"well how shall i address you?"

"new.."

"too informal your highness" Tay said strictly as he placed his hands behind his back

"stop it!" New nipped back

"stop what...your highness"

"THAT!" New was ready to throw a childish fit when he heard Tay calling him by formalities.

"Hmmm i'm not too sure what you mean you-"

"you finish that sentence and i'll kick your ass" New warned which only amused Tay, he tried to defend himself with a pillow when he woke up, what could this spoiled brat possibly do.

"you? kick...MY? Ass?" Tay stood and signalled for him to come at him "go for it, YOUR HIGHNESS" He wasn't the usual strict general or guard people expected him to be.

New grumbled and did exactly that, a head strong swing of his fist later and he was already stumbling towards the walls behind Tay who just stepped back.

"reflexes are a little slow...if somebody came at you with a knife, you'd be dead" Tay said as he picked a paper fan from the side of the bed, swaying it and hitting New with it.

"did you just hit my ass?!"

"mentally slow too...who even was your last trainer? he's not done a good job with you at all" Tay mocked before he saw New moving again, he jumped his ankles and hit the back of his head with the fan once again as he rolled his eyes "let's make a deal...if you can get this fan out of my hands, or floor me...i'll stop calling you 'Your highness' Sound good?" Tay asked New nodded.

"alright, sounds fair..." New said before he turned away, running at the wall, as he kicked off the surface and turned to kick the paper fan out of Tays hand, He was just several moves too fast for him, grabbing his ankle which only caused him to fall and hit onto the ground.

"this isn't fair you taught people in the military for ten years..." New wined and stood, dusting himself off.

"i would have thought that your father would have had you in some intense training since you were younger, but i guess no-" Tay was cut short when he felt a sudden kick to his stomach, knocking him backwards, a second to chin, a third to his wrist, knocking the fan from Tays hand whilst also flooring him.

"looks like you gotta call me New from now on." He said looking down at him with a cocky grin before hitting Tay over the head with the paper fan " you underestimate who your opponents are and how they may trick you tut tut tut General...Tut...Tut...Tut" New grinned before leaving him on the floor to help himself up.

The sun was already starting to set at this point, both of them had bickered and brawled for so long "i'm going out, you can come with me or you can stay here, i'd rather you stayed here though."  
  
"no, i need to make sure you don't get killed. i'll come with you, if you get into trouble then its just my job to keep you alive." Tay stated clearly.  
  
"fine...just let me wash up and i'll meet you back here" New said before leaving the room. His intentions weren't to have Tay dragged around behind him, especially when he recognized him as the general from the night before.

When New made sure the coast was clear, he quickly gathered up the basic items he would need and pulled on his black and red embellished cape, pulling the hood up to remain hidden as he sneaked out of the usual side exit.

Tay had only waited ten minutes when it instantly hit him that New had sneaked out again "damn it if he dies and i'm not there" he said following out of the palace. He had gotten distracted when he noticed the same red cape from the night before. 'no find New...' he told himself but continued after into the Gardens once more.

New had figured he had been tailed by Tay and continued to wind in and out of the crowd until he slipped out of the back door hoping to lose him.

"who are you running from? I recognize the hood from last night" Tay asked as he stood with crossed arms.

New kept his head down not letting on that it was him, slowly he fixed his black silk mask up so only his eyes showed. But he was in his classic Flower boy image, skin as white as porcelain and blood red lips.

Tay was about to take the persons hood down when he heard the familiar sound of a bow string stretching under pressure. 'wait a second...'Tay looked up to the top balcony and saw the person aiming right for whoever was in the hooded cape. ' not on my watch' he grumbled to himself as he quickly grabbed The person in the hood, bending them backwards, almost classic ballroom style as he threw his dagger at them, landing the hit, luckily the arrow had missed them both at this point.

"are you alright-" Tay asked, pausing as he saw the golden eyes again but the person had covered their whole face.

New had never come that close to being assassinated before and gulped, his heart felt like it was beating at a hundred miles per hour.

"good..." Tay kept focused on their eyes, unable to imagine what the rest of the features would even look like.

New scrambled to his feet and thanked him, of course he never used his normal voice, He never did, people new that one very well.

"don't thank me...why were they-"

"i need to go" New blurted out and turned as they fixed their hood and left quickly. Not even looking at Tay as he left back for the palace for safety. Tay would be looking for the 'prince' all night without knowing that within the next hour, he was going to be safe in his bed.

  
When New finally arrived, he changed and cleaned himself up before staring into his mirror with a bewildered expression of utter confusion "my heart feels strange, was is it?" He questioned himself before lying down.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Almost a week had passed since Tay had been appointed as New’s Personal guard and in all honesty, it was not going well. Tay was used to handling the worst of the worst, Prisoners, murderers, brutal exiles that have gone savage due to the lack of human interaction. Thralls and barbarians. That was Tay area of expertise, but a spoiled prince with more gold than sense and the hyperactive mind set of a teenage boy? He was barely keeping up, but he didn’t want to disappoint the emperor or tarnish his families name. This was just another complicated task he HAD to survive through, no matter how badly he wanted to throw the brat from his own balcony, but that was ‘supposedly’ treason?

Whilst Tay bickered and whined to himself about the past week’s events, he noticed that New had been avoiding him more than usual. He was used to neither of them talking for hours on end or not even talking at all. But they still would sit in the presence of one another and communicate in other ways, may it be speaking to the maid in the room to pass messages back and forth to one another or just randomly pointing to be gave something or spelling things out in sand or grains. That hadn't happened today. Tay had been sat in the prince’s room for no more than an hour and he could already see that the Prince wouldn’t turn his way, he would sneak around, and their means of communication had totally fallen through.  ‘what is he up to?’ Tay asked himself as he stood from the small silk cushion stool in which he usually sat.

“why are you here?” New asked, catching Tay off guard at the fact he spoke more than two words to him so early in the day.

“I’m not going over this again, New I’m your personal guard, I can’t just stand up and leave.”

“The personal Guards don’t work on Tuesdays…I go to temple on Tuesdays…” New said not expecting Tay to ask one of the maids of the court if he was really telling the truth.

“the prince doesn’t enjoy visiting the temple and had sworn against ever visiting ever since he could think for himself.”  Tay smirked at the maid’s words, knowing that he wouldn’t allow New to trick him away from his post. “But” she added quickly as she looked between the two men. “on Tuesday evenings the main Guard is dismissed from his post and his royal highness will remain in his palace dorms until the royal guard returns the following morning.”

Tay turned back to New and pointed slightly “hold on, I get the night off…and YOU…get locked in your room like a damsel in distress? Oh, this is great” Tay wasn’t one for in-formalities but New had given him the all clear to stop calling him ‘your highness’ so he didn’t feel too out of place laughing at New and how unfortunate it was that he was to be locked in tonight.

“stop laughing…it’s not funny, its actually pretty boring in these halls at night…I said stop laughing!” New whined as he watched Tay from across the room, even the small maid had begun to laugh, Tays laughter was the type to be contagious due to how ridiculous it sounded. The more New bickered and whined, the more Tay laughed until he had finally gotten bored of the prince.

“Well whilst you’re suffering in this big old empty room with your grapes and riches…and mosquitoes…I’m going to spend my evening off AWAY from the palace, and you.”

New looked down and huffed knowing exactly where he was going “fine…go…get out, it’s not like I wanted you here anyway.” He glared and pushed past him to enter his dressing room. He had plans of his own.

Every Tuesday before Tay arrived at the palace, New had been sneaking out to the gardens without being noticed or stopped. And he CERTAINLY was not allowing Tay to stop him from his regular routine. He already couldn’t spend time with the flower boys due to their partners being guards.

New listened to the doors of his room finally close before he peered around the column at the edge of the door frame. No maids, no Tay, No night guards at this moment in time. The sound of the door clicking from the outside was a far too familiar sound of him being locked back into his room. ‘Prince New behaves himself’ he thought to himself as he began to mess with the silk sheets and cushions, the animal furs and clothing he had. Once he stepped back the bed looked like somebody was asleep safely in the case of a night guard checking in on him. Quickly he made his way into his dressing room once more and pushed through his rails of silk clothing to get to the black red and golden robe he kept hidden from anybodies view. ‘But Thorn…they don’t like being locked up’ he thought to himself once again. His persona he put on when visiting the gardens, Tay knew as the Golden eyed boy, but  he went by the name of ‘Thorn’  It wasn’t similar to the name ‘New’ and it certainly wasn’t the type of name you would trace back to him anyway.

 

 

After a while of sitting around and talking to the others, drinking cheap wine and being the ONLY person in the group that wasn’t with somebody, Tay had finally gotten bored of the gardens, his attention was else where all night. There had been several occasions where Off had pointed out men that Tay would have been interested in…but nothing made him want to move from his seat in the corner of the room. Not another pitcher of wine and definitely not another man.

He was bored, done with being an 8th wheel to his group. So leaving seemed like the best thing to do, to train or to sharpen weapons or SOMETHING other than spending his evening doing something he just didn’t enjoy.

As Tay made his way past the bar, he felt a hand grazing across his arm and back, when he turned he couldn’t see who it could have been. ‘perhaps its just everyone packed so tight in here’ he thought to himself before he continued but made it no further than the top of the first floors stairs. From across the balcony which overlooked the full of the Gardens, Tay had caught sight of a rather familiar robe. The only thing he wasn’t sure of was if this even was the same person, why were they stuck in his mind? ‘I think I’m going crazy’ he huffed and scratched the back of his neck before he continued down the steps. The further he descended down the staircase, the more and more curious he became, wondering if this person really WAS who he had been looking out for all night. Finally on the bottom step Tay glanced up one last time only to lock eyes with the familiar golden iris’ from all those nights before. “you…” he breathed out and didn’t move until they had moved out of his sight again.  As quickly as he could, Tay pulled himself up the stairs to the top floor and followed after the golden trimmed robes, only catching glimpses of it through the thick smoke in that always clouded the air. He needed to find them, and not because of the sudden infatuation he had with their eyes…but the last time he was at the Gardens he had been poisoned with snake venom. He wanted to know who they were, why they had the knowledge of an Alchemist and why they only seemed to target him, or was that just Paranoia? Tay grumbled nonsense to himself before losing where they went ‘Damn it…it’s that stupid prince, he’s driving me insane’ he thought to himself once again.

Although Tay continued for a further ten minutes he had lost sight of who he was looking for and even he knew when to quit. Passing through the bodies and smoke, the fragrances of perfumes and spices lingering like a thick cloud in the air, strong enough to leave you choking for air, Tay pushed his was out into the back of the gardens, although the name suggested a very lively and floral area, the gardens was just a basic club surrounded by some trees and bushes located in the very poorly lit centre in the slums of the city. It could be considered as the whore district in many ways due to the abundance of brothels and whore houses for the poor to waste their silver. 

Tay hadn’t left straight away, instead he wound around the trees in almost complete darkness, hoping that the air (as unfresh as it was) would help sober him up from the turned wine they had all drank that evening. As he reached the end of the tree’s he spotted somebody sitting with their back facing him, the moonlight touching the golden trims of the persons Robe was enough to alert Tay of who this anonymous being was.

"You took your time catching up” was all they said as they turned their head slightly to the side, Their golden ringed eyes catching The tipsy generals attention.

“you had me running around like a mad man looking for you…”

“you ARE a mad man for chasing after me for so long…after all, I did just leave when you saw me.” New chuckled lightly from behind the black and gold veil that protected his identity.

“Let’s say I am mad…but you’re the reason behind that then” Tay blurted out as he watched the other stand to his level, something about them seemed SO familiar, he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

“oh? Did you miss me that much that you’ve gone insane? I tend to have that effect on men” New spoke as he tilted Tays chin up slightly then slowly lowered his hand to rest on Tay’s chest, pulling at one of the buttons on his black silk shirt to reveal the generals chest slowly.

Tay swatted his hand away abruptly and held his wrist which only confused New and amused him at the same time, Tay had been chasing him like a lost puppy every time they both visited the Gardens, but tonight he didn’t seem to be stumbling head over heels like other men had been.

“oh?” New cocked a brow and waited for a response

“Don’t…touch me.” Tay spoke but as the words left his mouth, he seemed unsure of what he was saying. “don’t play innocent…like you don’t know what part you play in this.”

“If I’m totally honest, I haven’t the slightest clue what you’re talking about” New tutted.

“I know about the snakes venom. I know what you laced your lips with the night you-“ Tay found himself to be cut off by New tugging his hand from his grasp and pressing his hand onto Tays torso, pushing him backwards against a tree.

“the night I kissed you? The night I caused you to go ‘crazy?’ My dear…sweet general…I had a paralytic venom on my lips…not one to make you obsessive and crazy over something like you are with me…that…was your own doing.” He smirked and stepped closer, watching as Tay tensed up, so he gently rubbed his hand up and down his sides in a bid to calm him. “you don’t have to act so defensive, the whole world isn’t out to get you, you know? Allow yourself to let go…Enjoy yourself for one night” He could see how Tay hadn’t broken eye contact with him, how the tipsy general that stood before him was leaning forward towards his hand which remained close to his face as he traced a few fingers along his jaw line.

“i- I can’t I…letting my guard down I dangerous…you know that from the other night, you almost died…” Tay spoke up finally, it was like his mouth didn’t want to say these words, like they wanted to do something else.

“for me? Please?” New leaned close, pressed against him as he gently pressed a kiss to Tays lips. As Thorn he had no control over himself, he blamed the persona completely, he was disgusted with this guard, he annoyed him and laughed and belittled him…but all of a sudden it was like he had the only lips he wanted to kiss out of the full kingdom. Just something about him, about how he chased him helplessly, he was perhaps far too amused, or was it the similar feeling in his chest that alerted him.

Tay pressed his hand onto his shoulder slightly to push back ‘what if I’m about to be poisoned again?’ he asked himself. But no matter how much he worried himself over the possible chance that this golden eyed man COULD in fact kill him tonight, he just found himself slipping deeper and deeper into The others arms.

Tay slowly snaked his arms around the others neck as he tilted his head ever so slightly to deepen the kiss, as he finally let his eyes close, he accidentally knocked down News hood to his robe which mainly covered his face and his identity. But luckily it was one of those moment that played into his secrets favour, Tays eyes hadn’t opened once and he was able to fix his hood before being exposed.

Normally New would have messed around once and called it a night, leaving them a mess at the gardens, but not tonight. Oh no, it was far more different than his usual nights. He grabbed onto Tays wrist as he broke the kiss finally, pulling him gently towards the back entrance of the Gardens where the rooms where.

“where…where are we going?” Tay asked as he kept up with him. Questioning exactly what intentions he had for him. It wasn’t like he minded, he had begun to question if The golden eyed male was perhaps a sorcerer, after all he did find himself completely bewitched by him in every single way.

“somewhere private, against a tree isn’t the classiest of places to be caught” New chuckled and pulled him to the first free room, locking the door behind him, but as he turned around to speak, he hadn’t even gotten a chance at this point because Tay had collided their lips in a heated and lustful kiss, holding onto him closely, his hands trying to lower the robe as if he wanted him now, that made New hesitant. He was prepared for anything, but not being exposed.

So he had to do what he knew best, pushing him down onto the cushions and leaned over him, breaking their lips apart for a split second, a cocky smirk forming on News lips as he saw how Tay leaned up to attempt to join their lips again “you’re so needy…” was all he said through a deep chuckle that sent shivers down Tays spine.

“perhaps I am…Perhaps I’m not that strong General you’ve mocked…perhaps I don’t want to be, and I want something else…” Tay spoke as he met his eyes once more.

“and what would that be?” He asked in response.

“you…” Tay admitted as he fully pressed himself up, pecking his lips once again before leaning back on the cushions “you’ve never told me your name, will I get to know that tonight?”

“hmm I don’t know, have you earned the right to know my name?”

“if I don’t know your name, how will I know to call for you? What name will I say in my dreams? What name do I put to the face that’s been fogging my mind for far too long…” Tay tried to see their features more clearly but just couldn’t.

“Thorn…It’s thorn.” New spoke calmly before seeing how Tay seemed confused and even felt his hand on his cheek touching at the face scarf that disguised his features well.

“And I hope you know, if you ever see my face..” he pushed his hand down and held it in his own “I’ll have to kill you…”

“Never?” Tay asked disappointed at the fact he couldn’t put a face to go with those eyes.

“ever…” New clarified.

“I’ll win you over myself…that way you’ll want to show who you are…mark my words…” Tay explained and leaned up as best he could to meet News lips again, but this time he was stopped by a sudden finger pressed to his lips.

“you smell like cheap wine and you’re swaying more than a sailor with one leg in the middle of a tsunami, wait until next time, and don’t be drunk, only then…will i consider going a little further.” New slipped his hand up and into Tays hair, gently playing with the soft fluff as he watched the man below him grow tired.

Tay wanted to keep himself awake. He even tried to slap at his own face to keep himself awake but every time he tried, New stopped him “shhh….just sleep” he heard, the other males voice was so soothing and he just couldn’t stay awake any longer, everything about this ‘Thorn’ kept him at ease.

New sat with him, holding him until he was sure he was asleep, and even then he stayed for a little longer, finding himself admiring the others features. He caressed his cheek gently and smiled when Tay leaned closer to his touch. His smile really did things to his heart, it always ached and made him feel dizzy whenever he looked at him like this. He pressed his thumb on his plump bottom lip and watched as Tay subconsciously pouted slightly. For the last time that night he gently pecked his lips before moving away slowly.

“I do hate goodbyes” New sighed and fixed his hood before leaving Tay asleep in the room. As he made his way back to the palace he kept thinking of his lips, the softness of them, how plump they were…thinking of how he kept biting his lip through out the night, he found himself raising his hand to feel at his lips which had not long touched the others. His cheeks felt  warm ‘I think I have a fever’ he thought as he smiled to himself.


	4. Chapter 4

The news was finally out, the king was throwing a grand ball for the nobility of the kingdom, of course New was highly surprised to wake to this news as his father Never threw parties, especially without an important occasion behind it. The last time there was ever a grand ball hosted in the palace it was when his mother had passed, how twisted, he always thought, to have a party to celebrate the death of the wisest and most cherished person of the empire, instead of allowing people to mourn they simply nursed their over flowing chalices of sour wine for the evening and told tales and jokes of her as if New wasn’t in the hall.

“Your highness you need to get up” Tay sighed as he leaned on the door way. Tay clearly remembered the passing of the empress, everybody had been told that she had drank bad wine and fell ill, but because of the position his father held among the emperor and empress, he found out the true story of what happened. It had been a lovers tragedy, The Empress was no longer happy with being treated like a possession underneath her powder mad husband, so with the help of the court mage, she had mixed a poison that would have helped her fake her own death…If the mage hadn’t informed the Emperor of course, the poison dosage was so high that it was lethal, slowly killing the empress over the few days that hell broke loose in the kingdom. All in the span of a week, the court mage had been sentenced to death, the empress passed away and then Tay’s own father died protecting the emperor.

Tay could clearly see that New had no intentions of going to this ball.

“why should I get up? So, I can drink sour wine and die? Phah! I’ll take my chances with an opiate in my own room” New practically spat out, there was no reason for this ball, no reason to make a public appearance, his father was trying to plan something, but he just didn’t have the slightest clue what that thing was.

“well going this evening or not, you need to get up, you have duties” Tay spoke as he pulled the sheets back to get the prince out of his bed but was greeted with a rather unfortunate image. “a-and you don’t sleep with clothing on” Tay stuttered as he covered his eyes, turning away.

“why would I? ever sleep naked between silk and satin sheets? You feel like a baby seal” New grinned at Tay’s reaction, he found it strange how he was perfectly fine with the idea of seeing Thorn like this…but when it came to himself, he seemed disgusted, when it was literally the same thing, well of course he didn’t exactly know that yet.

“I don’t want to know about your fantasies of becoming a baby seal, New…and you actually do need to get up, your father instructed I take you down to the ball this evening, so you need to get ready. Now” Tay said sternly to which New only whined and got up from his bed, wrapping a robe around himself as he pushed past Tay and wandered to his desk.

“fine…but” New scribbled down on paper for a few minutes before sealing the notes and wandering to the door, opening it and handing the letters to the page outside the door. “deliver these letters to the names noted” he spoke, still ignoring Tay who watched him wandering back and forth across the room.

“what are you doing?” Tay asked from his position at the foot of the bed.

“minding my own business, like you could be” New retorted, rather bitterly as he pushed into the closet to pick out which robes he would be wearing that evening.

“I can’t have you doing anything shifty, you’re going to have to tell me what you sent off” Tay huffed out, it was more of a case of his curiosity getting the better of him than the instincts that followed his duty. Wandering slightly into the closet with New, still wanting to know what he was doing. “what are you really up to? Huh? You never sit quiet and you never do as you’re told, somethings odd” Tay questioned once again.

New looked in his mirror, seeing Tay behind him, slowly he turned and backed Tay into the dressers behind them “accompany me to this ball…then I’ll let you know” New said as he got close to Tay who seemed rather unamused by News overly cocky presence.

“New move or I’ll hit you, I won’t hesitate- “Tay’s words were cut short when there was a large slam of News hand on one side of the cabinet, he was cornered. He looked over News face, but only for a brief second before turning his head away, taking note of the cocky grin on his lips.

“you won’t what? Hesitate? Go ahead, hit me” New chuckled, turning his head and tapping at his cheek slightly.

“I’ll do it”

“oh, I know you will, you’re feisty like that, I can tell” New was enjoying annoying him more than anything at this point. “but if you aren’t going to hit me, then come with me to the ball...you’d make a pretty little date, I’m sure the palace maids can find you a dress and a pretty bow” And with those words Tay raised his hand, hurling it towards New to slap him, he was his guard, not his play thing.

But as quickly as Tay moved to slap New for how he was acting, like a wild dog and not a man, New had caught his wrist and slammed I back onto the wall, tutting slightly “the emperors guard hitting the prince? That wouldn’t go well now would it?”

“the emperors was only hitting a vile brat” Tay growled out as he tried to tug his wrist from his grasp.

As he did so, New raised a hand, pulling the lace away from the top Tay’s shirt, but quickly these actions were stopped by Tay, gripping at his wrist with his free hand. “stop…”

“why?” New grinned only to have the grin slapped off of his face finally, shocked that Tay had the audacity to hit him.

“because I said so, I’m not a palace slut you can just call on when you want your fix of ass, I’m not interested in you” Tay practically spat the words out. Watching as New rather quickly removed his hands and stepped back, continuing to fasted his robes.

“really? So, you like somebody else?” New questioned and grinned when he saw he didn’t answer, a basic sign of a guilty man. But when a single word wasn’t muttered New found himself getting bored, letting out a short huff. “fine, I see how it is.” It was strange for New to be like this, grumpy that Tay wouldn’t tell him who he liked, even though he knew it was thorn…his alter ego, his secondary persona, he felt strange for the attention his persona received but he didn’t. 

“well fine, don’t accompany me, because I’ll be inviting my friends to the ball, so you don’t even have to be around me” New said before ruffling his own hair as he turned away, acting like nothing had just happened, like he hadn’t just been slapped, like he hadn’t just been so unbelievably inappropriate to Tay.

“what the hell is wrong with him today?” Tay asked when New finally left the room, grumbling slightly before setting off to get ready.

 

* * *

 

 

Meanwhile News invitations had finally reached their intended receivers.

Gun took the letter from the page before turning back to Off who had his arms wrapped firmly around him from behind.  The pair had been getting a lot closer now that they were able to meet each other every day, even at night Off had been known for sneaking out of the barracks to meet gun at his house, just to spend time with him or even just to sleep in the same room as them. Constantly Off would heard his fellow team mates warning him of his closeness to the younger male, that it wasn’t good in the public eye and that their actions could cause greater problems for themselves.

“what’s this?” Off asked, resting his chin down onto Guns shoulder, reading the note slightly

“an invitation to one of the palace balls” Gun said with a smile, holding onto Offs hand with his in which was free “it’s from New” he swayed the letter before hearing a small grumble from Off. “what’s…what’s wrong? do you not want to go with me?” Gun asked, looking up at Off with his saddest puppy dog eyes he could pull.

‘damn it’ Off thought to himself as he let out a sigh of defeat “It’s not that I don’t want to go with you, but I’m already going…I’m on duty tonight for that ball” Off said, squishing Gun’s cheeks between his palms “I went to the stinky pig pens with you because you wanted to see a pig in person…Gun why would I not want to ever go to a ball with you? Huh?” Off questioned, his heart practically aching at his sad eyes, but then those sad eyes sparkled when he smiled at him.

“really?! I’m going to get to see you in uniform? And NOT in the gardens?” Gun chimed and held onto his hands.

“uh? Yeah” Off laughed slightly before being dragged from the door into the main hall of their house. “where are we going?” Off questioned as he followed after Gun, normally he wouldn’t question, but today he seemed beyond excited.

“to get ready? Duh, I get to spend the evening with my man” Gun said as he wriggled Offs arms back and forth.

“alright, you put your face on…or whatever you do in that room without me” Off seriously had no idea what Gun did for fun, they both did everything together, so what Gun did without him was genuinely a mystery at this point. “I’m going to check back at the barracks and get ready” Off said, watching Gun turn to run to his room, but rather quickly Off grabbed his hand, pulling Gun pack and pecking his cheek “I’ll see you tonight” he whispered, watching Gun squirm and wriggle away from him, waving him off before heading to his room.

As gun entered his room he came face to face with Toey who stood with crossed arms “you’re going to get caught, aren’t you even caring about your life here?” He asked, as if Gun cared about his status more than Off.

“If I have to kiss Off in the middle of the city square just for people to notice how much I love him, I will…I’m not that shallow to care for how somebody impacts my ‘status’” Gun huffed out, shoving the invitation to Toey’s chest. “get dressed, the prince has invited the flower boys”

Toey didn’t seem in the mood, grumbling slightly at the letter before shoving it back at Gun “must I go? I kind of want to stay in, watch grass grow, something more important than an uneventful ball.” Toey seemed like such a kill joy at the moment.

“wait…aren’t you glad you’ll see Ohm later?” Gun asked quietly, playing with the lace of his shirt slightly, noticing how Toey didn’t even seem to care.

“I’m too busy for him right now Gun, BUT…I guess I’ll drop by” Toey said with a shrug before there was a sudden ‘thump, thump thump’ from down the hallways, leading to their room before Sing finally burst through the door, grinning as he looked between the two.

“did I hear you say invitation to a ball? And Ohm will be there?” Sing asked as he threw his robes off and scampered for the robes on the wall.

“I-uh? Yeah, Prince New invited us. So, get ready” Gun tapped the invite on sings head then hit the back of Toey’s head with it “you too buzzkill” he huffed out slightly and made his way to his dressing table to get ready.

The entire time that Gun tried to focus on fixing his hair and applying his usual red berry gloss to his lips, he heard a constant squeak from across the room, Sing, the youngest of the flower boys, was sat messing around and getting excited for the evening, although he was rarely at the gardens, he still knew exactly who Ohm was, and he had been chasing after him desperately for the past two years, so the idea of getting to hang out with him for the evening had gotten him a little over excited.

Gun and Toey both glanced back and huffed “Sing shut up” Toey snapped before Gun would say anything.

“hey…if I wanna get hyped for tonight…I WILL” Sing snapped back and threw his powder brush at him “go back to covering your wrinkles old man” he huffed out before getting up from his dressing table, making his way out into the main hall to calm down, Gun following shortly behind.

“Sing wait up, have you noticed Toey’s acting? weird? Blunt?” gun questioned only for Sing to nod.

“I think Toey has fallen out with Ohm, they don’t talk , they don’t get along by the looks of it…in fact, I think Toey’s been seeing somebody else” Sing said, but sing was a gossiper, nothing he ever said could be taken seriously, but this was one of those instances where Gun was sceptical.

“don’t gossip without facts Sing, you’ll get hit again” gun warned before ruffling his hair “I’m going to find Off, make sure Toey comes to the palace gates to meet us, alright?”  And with that Gun fixed his robe and made his way into the city, pulling his hood up so palace guards didn’t recognise him,

Of course, Gun wanted one specific guard to notice him, to pay him the slightest attention, and this guard was half way through struggling to fasten his sheath from the back, So Gun took the opportunity to wrap his arms around his clumsy guard’s waist, tightening it for him. “when will it ever just be us two?” Gun asked, hearing Off give out a surprised sigh, turning to face him.

“what do you mean?” Off asked as he ruffled Guns hair slightly, thinking he looked cuter than usual.

“I mean…I don’t want you going to war again, I don’t want you leaving me again, you always do that.” Gun whined slightly as he held onto Offs waist.

“Listen” Off cupped his cheeks and smiled at how cute he was acting. “I’m not going anywhere, alright? I promise you that I’ll try to stay, no matter what it takes, even if I have to sneak away from my post to see you, I’ll always end up back with you, because I…am an idiot that doesn’t like being in the military” Off chuckled, killing a moment that could have been the cutest.

“damn it Off” Gun slapped at his arm for a moment before feeling Off hold his hands to keep him steady.

“speaking of leaving, can we go to the palace now? I kind of wanna show off the cute short guy in the town” Off spoke as he wrapped his arms around Gun, grinning slightly before pulling him towards the door.

 

 

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

Later that evening Tay was stood by News door, fixing the rather uncomfortable fabric he was forced to wear. For events like this, Tay would have rather made an appearance in his military uniform... but no. as the kings guard he supposedly had to dress the part too, that included overpriced, itchy, uncomfortably ugly fabrics that hung around his weapons and belt and hung off at inconvenient places, there wasn’t any armour on this either, not even a single mental plate in sight or place for a hidden blade apart from strapped to his boot. Tay grumbled in annoyance as he pulled at the fabric and wriggled around, waiting for New as he had been given the job of taking him down to the grand hall. The worst thing about this was the clothing of choice was completely New’s idea, everything right down to the kings seal placed on his chest was organised and designed by New, it was almost like everything New did was done with one purpose only, to get on his nerves.

Or perhaps he was just being paranoid, had he perhaps just let New annoy him so much during their time together that he had finally become suspicious to the fact that the prince’s every intent could be to destroy his peace and quiet? ‘pfft no’ Tay huffed out before the doors behind him finally opened, New stepping out, looking the neatest Tay had ever seen him,

 His hair wasn’t raggedy and flat like normal instead it was slicked back and styled to the side, his complexion evened out, obviously by some alchemy based cosmetics, the royals usually wore some form of make up to neaten their appearance, but that was either for large ceremonies and the makeup was usually unnatural and bright, something you would never see on the face of those in the village. But New’s face wasn’t unnatural to the point you could tell he was wearing expensive plants and herbs crushed down into a cream on his skin. It was very minimalistic, shaping his best features and darkening points such as his eyes and eyebrows. Tay glossed over his features for a second longer than usual, taking note of the almost ruby red gloss of berries used to stain his lips, as somebody that had spent a lot of time in the gardens, it wasn’t unnatural for him to see a male like this, but right now it was unnatural to see the prince looking anything other than a mess.

“you…you tidied up nicely” Tay said before cleaning his throat, trying to fix the collar of his shirt which had gotten tangled with the lace and fabric of his royal robes.

“I’d say the same for you but…” New stepped close to Tay who was still a little annoyed from the events earlier that day, watching him flinch slightly “you can barely thread your lace” New sighed and fixed it for him, it was awkward for a brief moment, New knew that well enough, but it was fun to see Tay acting annoyed at him.

“erm…than- thank you” Tay said as he finally stepped back “I’m to accompany you to the hall for the evening”

“so, you did choose to come with me then? Aww” New grinned as he put his hand out for his guard to take, but slowly brought it back in, dropping his hand by his side when he looked at him oddly.

“hmm? No, I’m to take you downstairs then I’m on duty for the following evening, I’m not here to baby sit you, and I’m not here for you to make grotesque remarks at, I’m here to work, do my duty and serve your father, your highness” Tay spoke bitterly before placing his hands behind his back “shall we go now?” he asked, watching as New huffed out, it was like a win for him at this point, seeing the prince not getting what he wanted was far be more enjoyable than he thought.

After a few moments of walking in complete silence, they both reached the front of the great hall. New turned slightly, seeing the page by the door ready to make a beyond embarrassing announcement that he had entered the room. “say a word and I’ll have your head” New threatened before smiling sweetly “have a wonderful evening” he chimed before Tay shoved him into the room.

“sorry he- he doesn’t mean that” Tay tried to excuse before slouching and hanging his head, he knew that New really did mean it, he would execute anybody that stepped foot out of line if he could, his bratty self, had no self-control and no sympathetic values.

“you know you can’t be talking to people like tha- “Tay fell silent when New raised his hand, his sleeve hitting Tay in the face.

“shh…Gun! So glad you made it” New said whilst moving from Tay’s side, wrapping his arms around his smaller friend, hugging him tightly.

“wouldn’t miss it for the world, thanks for inviting us” Gun responded with a large grin, Gun loved parties so free expensive wine and food seemed like the best thing for the night, although, the music wasn’t quite his taste, but he couldn’t care less at this point.

And it was at this exact moment Tay had realised just who New had been writing those letters to earlier that morning. “you…” reaching a hand out, Tay dragged the prince to the side “you know the flower boys?” he asked with a tone of utter confusion, making New laugh slightly.

“erm…yeah? Who do you think started the term ‘flower boys’?” He asked in return, watching as Tay seemed to look around the room frantically. “you looking for somebody?” He asked simply, although he knew the answer that Tay would not give him.

“I-uh…you? You go to the gardens?” Tay was just beyond confused at this point, New might have known who the golden eyed boy was, New might be able to help him find him again.

“where else am I to go when I sneak out of the palace Tay? It’s the only place the guards don’t look.”

“I…I need to ask you a question” Tay said almost sounding desperate at this point.

New simply looked down at Tay’s grip on his robes, raising a brow at his actions and felt a grin sprawl on his lips “hmm? ask away?” he said shrugging his hands away.

“I-I need you to tell me something, about somebody” Tay said rather quickly, trying to think of his words carefully, saying the wrong thing could give New lots to not just tease him about, but he could lose everything if New told the king.

“and?” New wandered over to one of the palace servants that held a tray of chalices filled with wine, taking a sip as he looked over to Tay, hiding his smug expression behind the rim of the chalice.

“its…a…somebody from the gardens, they know the others…at least I think they do…they might be one of your flowers boys- “Tay fell silent when New pushed a chalice to Tay’s lips.

“drink, you sound stressed” New sighed and leaned against the wall as he listened to the now panicked mess that Tay was.

“I, no okay I just need you to answer me this- “again Tay’s words were cut short.

“Those you saw behind Gun are all that’s left of us, we started with easily 30 of us…but then the king slowly took them out one by one...that’s why I tell your friend Off to be careful so often, I can’t be losing Gun for your friends foolishness” New spoke rather bluntly, “I don’t hate what they have, I think it’s beautiful, it’s something I want…but their lives are more precious than their love” New added before taking his chalice back and quickly finishing the contents of the cup.

“so, there’s nobody else? Do you know anybody else?”

“no, there’s nobody else, and I don’t have to tell you about ANYBODY else…” New spoke just as bluntly as before, not wanting to continue this any longer, it was fun when he first realised, but now he could see that Tay really wanted this other person ‘what’s wrong with me?’ he questioned as he walked away from him, realising that he was just getting himself stressed and annoyed by the fact that he was being two different people with different feelings for the one person.

Tay was baffled, he had no idea why New seemed so mad at him all of a sudden, he just wanted to know if the prince Knew Thorn, if he had any chance of finding them…his chances seemed even slimmer now that he had upset New. Quickly he pushed his way through the crowd, grabbing at his arm to stop him. “hey…what’s- what’s wrong? I was only asking you a question”

“then ask somebody else…Don’t come to me if you’re looking for somebody else, do I look like I know everybody in the kingdom?” New took another chalice and drank it quickly, feeling Tay grab his hands.

“stop drinking so quickly, you’ll make yourself sick…” Tay for a split second felt concerned at the pace New was going around the hall drinking, any free chalice he threw back, Tay could only stop him by trying to remove the chalice until they reached the courtyard where New finally had enough, dropping the cup finally.

“can you stop? Just stop following me around, stop trying to tell me what to do, you know you don’t even want to be here, to be stuck looking after me” New blurted out and turned away, taking in a deep breath as he tried to calm himself down, he was terrible at holding his alcohol so he had only made himself feel worse, He was ridiculous for getting so worked up over the fact his guard didn’t want him…but his persona.

“what?...New you’re drunk- “

“just go find Thorn” New spoke bitterly as he shook his hand off of his shoulder, making his way into the courtyard.

‘Thorn’ Although the prince was obviously upset with something…something Tay seemed to have done, he could only think of New mentioning Thorns name, that New obviously knew who they were ‘why would he lie about not knowing them’ he questioned again, this time he simply shook his head, knowing that he had work to do, he couldn’t run around after New all evening, as a member of the kings guard his duty was to protect the crown, and he had just been chasing the prince around all evening over some pathetic crush. But as he turned away, he couldn’t help but feel bad for how he had been treating New ‘does he really think I want rid of him? And hate him?’ he asked himself before making his way back into the ball.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, Ohm and Off were on Duty in the grand hall, but of course, it was more like Ohm was keeping an eye out for any other guards as Off messed around with Gun, the pair being insufferably clingy in the gardens of the courtyard or even dancing like fools among members of the royal council, they were being so noticeably obvious about their relationship that Tay had to tell them several times to stop or at least keep it on the down low. Other than that, the pairing had been enjoying their evening, that was until they noticed how down Ohm looked, leaning against his bow that he had propped on the ground for support.

“what’s the matter with you?” Gun asked before Off nudged him.

“I think Toey’s still ignoring him” Off spoke quietly as he signalled over to the crowd of fashionably dressed women who flaunted themselves at whoever had the most riches, and in the middle of that? Toey, drinking with the ladies and dancing with them.

“typical, that brat always weasels his way into wealth somehow” Gun glared and spoke through gritted teeth, he had grown to like Ohm as he would a younger brother, so seeing a member of his own group treat Ohm so poorly really ground his gears, making him angry at the situation. “Off I need a drink” he huffed out as he shoved past people, looking for the nearest drinks tray.

As Gun pushed past, Ohm only glanced up at Toey who was obviously flirting with the ladies of the court. ‘this is fine…he’s just talking’ he thought to himself before slipping down the wall a little. ‘we aren’t even dating…just…hooking up, it’s fine’ he told himself before his attention was dragged onto Sing who grabbed at his arm.

“woah! You look amazing in your armour…and you kept the bow I made you?!” Sing practically chirped out, over the moon, happy to see Ohm again.

Ohm looked down, seeing how tall Ssing had gotten and grinned, nodding “of course I did, it’s cute that you did that for me, it’s honestly the best bow I’ve ever been given, it’s kept me alive a lot” Ohm smiled and then turned his attention back to Toey, sighing deeply, and Sing noticed this quickly.

“come dance! You look bored…sad even, work must be hard.” Sing said as he tried his hardest to pull Ohm to his feet.

Letting out a small chuckle, Ohm pushed himself up, throwing his bow into his hand slightly “no can-do kiddo, I gotta stay on duty” he didn’t want to let sing see him upset.

“what? Me? A kid? I’m not a kid, I’m older than you last time I checked, why won’t you dance with me? Huh? You want to dance with toey don’t you?” Sing was getting bitter, he wanted Ohm’s attention, he thought Toey didn’t deserve it but still Ohm chased after him like he was the perfect man.

“sing?!” Ohm grabbed his arm and dragged him to the side of the hall “listen, that? It’s different, it’s…complicated”

“no.  it’s not, Toey doesn’t care about you...not the way I do” Sing admitted as he raised a hand to Ohms cheek, making sure his attention didn’t leave him “spend the night with me, don’t chase after him…he won’t chase you back” Sing said and looked over to see Toey with another girl, getting rather close, perhaps too close for comfort.

Ohm at this point was confused and hurt, too distracted to do his job, and not distracted enough to stop thinking of Toey and the fact the whores of the palace seemed like better company to him than Ohm could be.

Looking at them made Ohm’s heart drop as he looked over the events of the evening. “o-oh…” he spoke quietly, his breath shaking as he did.

“come on..,” Sing took his hand, pulling Ohm from his original position and further into the grand hall, he wasn’t going to try anything, he wasn’t sleazy like that, he just wanted to help him forget how Toey was treating him, even for a night, anything to make him smile again,

 

* * *

 

 

As Ohm left his post with a beyond defeated attitude, Jane watched over the whole hall from the top balcony, shaking her head at her so-called team that had abandoned their posts so easily, all for men. Jane on the other hand had no reason to leave her post, no reason to run off and enjoy herself, she didn’t know anybody from this kingdom as it wasn’t her own, she had no friends to sneak off to see, no family to visit, Jane was originally a slave girl for trade in this land until the queen had freed her.

She looked down on the royals after her death, she was bitter about them not protecting the only woman she had looked to as a mother.

But at times like this Jane could always put Duty before anything, watching over the crowded ballroom, it seemed to all work in linier, that was until she had noticed that there was those not in royal fabric, which was a must at events like this, they fabric seemed familiar, but no matter how hard she tried to figure out where she had saw the print, the name just never came to mind. ‘wait…’ she looked around, noticing Tay at the back of the hall close to the emperor, Ohm was with Sing on the west of the hall, Off and Gun were at the north of the hall…but what alarmed her most was the fact she couldn’t see the prince anywhere.

Keeping completely calm, Jane made her way down, checking over the court yard where she had found a rather upset prince sat in a bush.

“your highness?” she asked as she looked at New who was obviously a little more than tipsy rubbing at his eyes.

“yes? Oh- Jane I…I was- “

“your highness I don’t have time for this, Something seems wrong in the hall, there are, people with this print…it’s not royal” She stated before noticing one of them enter the court yard, so she covered the princes mouth quickly as she pulled them back into the bush ‘shh’ she signalled against her lips before tapping her ear.

In the time they had listened into the conversation, she hadn’t heard much, but she did hear them speaking of a trade, believing they could be there to try take women away. And once the coast was clear Jane pulled New back out into the plain grass. “your highness I am sorry…but it doesn’t seem safe here…you aren’t safe alone” she said and New nodded.

“I wasn’t in the hall for that reason, I felt like I was being followed” New stated before she held his arms.

“I know you’ve had a little too much to drink, and I know Tay and you do not get along but your highness, please try get to your room, we’ll sort any mess that may happen tonight…just take Tay with you” Jane advised as she leaned down, pulling a blade from her boot and giving it to the rather confused and scared prince “use this if you need to…”

And with those words, New set away from Jane’s side, pushing through the ballroom as frantically as possible, creating quite a scene as he looked for Tay, finally finding him. “Tay, please…we need to go, can you walk me to my balcony please?” he sounded needy, and to Tay, he still sounded drunk.

“what for? So, you can get me in your room with no effort? Not whilst you’re so desperately drunk…you hated me earlier, why come running now?” Tay asked bitterly before turning back to look over the hall.

“Tay for the love of god I’m not safe here” New spoke out of desperation at this point, he had certainly had far too much to drink, which meant in a fight he would be bested, he wouldn’t be able to fight of one man let alone the several that had been spotted in the hall at this moment.

“safe? New, it’s your own room, you’re as safe as you’ll ever be.” Tay rolled his eyes before turning away, he didn’t understand how New could be so blunt and rude, then sound so desperate and needy.

“Please” New had never degraded himself enough to beg anybody, not even his father for anything, but he was begging Tay in this moment.

“LISTEN, you spoiled brat. I’m on duty, not just for you tonight, but for everybody in this damn room, more specifically your father…so go back to your own room, on your OWN” Tay snapped, making New jump at his tone, watching New look fearful for a moment made his chest hurt for a split second, he seriously looked like he was fearing for his life, but for what reason? ‘he’s being dramatic’ he told himself before turning away.

New looked up at him completely defeated, he wasn’t going to get anywhere begging for help. Just as he thought prior to doing so. He pushed out of the hall, saying goodnight to guests where needed and avoiding those with the dark robes that Jane was correct in saying looked familiar.

The walk to his room was long and tedious. In his hands he spun the blade Jane had given him, but his hand eye co-ordination was completely off.

“your highness you look pale as a ghost! “one of the maids spoke as she helped him back to his room, the entire time he could not help but feel fearful, he felt like the hall was shrinking in on himself, like he was lost for breath at times, paranoid for almost no reason other than Janes words.

The longer he walked with the maid and spoke, the less and less worried he felt, calming slightly, the idea of murderous, kidnapping thieves in the palace no longer worried him. Maybe Tay was right to shout at him, perhaps he had been like this due to his drinking, that was something he was always warned against.

“I’ll check on you later If you’d like?” The maid spoke quietly.

“I- um. No, no, I’ll be alright, just you take a break, your entire team, tell them the prince has told you to rest early, thank you” New smiled weakly before closing the door, the emperor was normally cruel to the maids, treating them like toys and things to hit around, but New hated treating them like dirt, his mother hadn’t raised him to treat the poor unkind. Only the rich and spoiled, like himself.

Upon entering his room and pushing the door shut, New pulled at the fabric of his robe, dropping it off his shoulders and onto the marble flooring, tugging and loosening the lace of his shirt, feeling like he needed air at this moment in time, He had definitely gotten it into his head that he was just being paranoid, but there was still a feeling of unease at the back of his mind. “stupid girl” he practically spat as he walked to the balcony and pushed his hair back, he felt ridiculous for thinking that the guards would even allow somebody past the gates.

For a while longer New rested on his balcony, tapping the blade on the marble, chipping away at it slightly. He was becoming bored and restless at this point, question if he should just return to the ball once again. And that’s when he placed the blade down, turning away for a moment, but even after he had let go of the blade, the small ‘clink, clink’ of it tapping the marble could still be heard.

Turning quickly New found himself almost face to face with somebody who had breached the palace walls, the tap tapping he had been hearing was somebody who had been moving slowly along the roof above his room, and now as he looked at the familiar dark robes, it was like his heart sank, panic and adrenaline coursing through his body as he lunged for the blade, but as he reached for the blade he was struck in the shoulder, the fabric of his shirt tearing, and his royal pin falling into the court yard bellow. In this moment New was telling himself it was a moment of life or death, pushing into the blade further, feeling it pierce deep into his shoulder, just so he could grab the blade to defend himself.

But his struggles were all in vain, the blade was pulled from his shoulder and when he looked back there was another in his room, holding what seemed to be a small bag, and before New could swing the blade in his tipsy state to defend himself, the intruder had blown what could only be an alchemy based powder in his face.

‘poison, it’s poison, no…its poppies…its arsenic…it’s opium…’ he thought as he tumbled backwards and into the cabinet behind him, smashing the prized vase of his mothers. The more he tried to fight the feeling of intense fatigue that coursed through his body, the more he found himself dazed and hardly able to move “H-HE..ELP…” he wheezed out, hardly any noise leaving his lips “TAY…” he shouted as loud as he could, over and over, begging for him to come in to shout at him, praying that he would find him, to help him. But within the next minute or so of his struggles, he had fallen forward completely, blacking out from the powder that he had inhaled.

 

 

* * *

 

 

During these events, Gun was now in the Courtyard, ruffling and messing with Off’s hair when he felt something hit his arm, glancing around to see the Royal pin on the ground. “isn’t this the prince’s seal?” Gun as when examining the pin.

“oh…New must have left it on his balcony, a bird probably knocked it off” Off suggested as he took the pin from Gun’s hands, glancing around for either Jane or Tay, and ahead of them in the hall stood Tay looking rather grouchy.

Tay at this moment was still furious at New, the hall seemed calm and there hadn’t been the slightest threat in sight all evening, so he just wasn’t in the mood for dealing with his drunken paranoia.

“hey!” Off shouted slightly before slapping the pin into Tay’s hand “your prince is a clumsy little brat, give this to him when you see him” Off said before turning quickly to grab hold of Gun.

“huh? He’s not with you?” Tay asked looking at the pin. Knowing that he had seen this on him prior to their argument. 

“me? No!” Off said with a loud huff of laughter “you were the one burdened with watching the prince, remember? Not me” Off said, raising a brow in confusion, and within seconds Tay had closed his hands around the pin shoving past them both, almost knocking Gun over.

“JANE! Jane! please tell me the prince is with you” Tay snapped as he got outside, not seeing him at all int he hall, he wouldn’t drop his pin, he was very careful about his items, especially a pin so precious to him, he knew it was his mother’s pin before it was his, New wouldn’t just drop something like that.

“what? Did he not go to you?”  Jane blurted out.

“yes, but I- “

“did you take your god damn eyes off of him?!” Jane snapped again, sounding like a furious mother, she was seriously scary when angry, but he had no idea why she was so mad.

“I- I did for the emperor- “

“you are the PRINCE’S guard…not a guard to the king…” Jane snapped, how Tay didn’t understand this she would never understand.

“I thought he was just being paranoid, he came up to me begging for me to take him to his room, he was drunk and a mess, and I just- I shouted at him to go on his own” Tay admitted and suddenly felt the heavy handed slap of Janes leather gloved palm hitting the side of his head.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU GO WITH HIM?!” she practically screeched, her voice cracking and the side of her neck twitching at the vein, he had never seen her this furious, over something so small “it isn’t safe! There is unlabelled robes int he room” she spoke, and in that moment Tay turned, spotting the dark robes that looked so familiar.

“they…” looking at Jane, Tay had realised exactly what was happening “the prince!”  The idea of failing the king, failing his family, it scared him more than what Jane would do to him for not doing his job correctly.

His feet pounding on the marble flooring as fast as his heart was pounding in his chest. he thought about New being hurt, of how he had begged for help beforehand, his stomach churning as he got into the room and found the room silent, nothing seemed out of order, but the empresses vase smashed on the floor, and upon the pristine white balcony lay a dark grey powder.

“no- No! fuck!” Tay snapped and panicked, turning to see Jane looking at the mess.

“where the fuck is he?!” Jane knew it wasn’t just Tay’s neck on the line, If the prince was noticed as missing, the whole kings guard linked to him would suffer.

“I-I don’t know” Tay said, feeling that pain in his chest again, this time it was worse than before, getting tighter and tighter as he thought about what had happened, it he was dead or not, if he suffered, the blood on the floor below the smashed vase was enough to create an image of what happened, and the more he thought, the more he panicked. He shouted at the prince, he shoved him around, he bickered and argued with him, but he didn’t want him hurt in the slightest.

“I don’t know Jane” Tay slammed his fist against the marble balcony “FUCK!” he snapped loudly, feeling totally defeated. After a few moments of sulking and letting out his anger, he calmed and looked over his shoulder at Jane “get the others to the barracks, NOW!” he ordered as he grabbed the blade form his boot and shoved his way out of the room.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Upon returning to the barracks in a moment of panic, Tay was met by Ohm and Jane who had been packing up their horses for the past twenty minutes. Off being the last to tumble in behind them all whilst still trying to fix the lace on his robes, it was a little too obvious that Off had run off from his post with Gun again. But Tay wasn’t surprised in the slightest, and nor were the others.

“What the hell happened?” Off asked as he grabbed the materials the others had set out for him, including his belts, blades, armour and such.

“Jackass over here decided to get stroppy and ignored the prince, leaving his post like the rest of you did” Jane spoke bitterly, looking among the three men that only lowered their heads as they were scolded, knowing there was no excuse for what they did, but of course Tay always had to have the last say.

“I left to watch over the prince, I thought he would be safe in the hall, how on earth was I supposed to know that intruders would break into his room? I’m a member of the EMPERORS guard…not the prince’s, and I’m not his baby sitter, he should have been able to handle himself.” Tay snapped slightly, trying to make his situation seem better.

Jane dropped her gauntlets as she turned, gripping hold of Tay’s robe, nothing but pure rage on her face. “Why can’t you just admit you were wrong for once?! Are you that pig headed and stubborn?” Shaking her firsts slightly, Tay had to stop her as he felt himself hitting the stone wall behind himself.

“Hey, you were given the duty of prince’s guard by the emperor…Tay get a grip…imagine how your father would react” Tay loosened his grip on Jane’s arms when he heard Ohm speak.

His father would have been disgusted, and if the emperor ever found his son was in danger because Tay abandoned his post, he would have all of their heads on spikes, or worse. This is when the guilt began to kick in, he had only put his whole team in danger, and the prince. He couldn’t help but feel worried for every single person he had dragged into this.

“I-I gotta get him back” Tay spoke quietly as he shoved what he could in his saddle bag, no time to fit on his armour, the longer he took to get set, the longer it took to get the prince back.

“nobody…and I mean Nobody! Tells the emperor, do you understand? now get what you need, we head out in five minutes” Jane ordered, she was the most organised of the full group so of course everybody fell in line and listened to her. It was dangerous not to as she also had the shortest temper and lacked empathy.

 

* * *

 

 

And almost an hour later, the group had finally set out to get the prince back. They probably would have been circling for hours if it wasn’t for Ohm recognizing the exact robes Jane described. It belonged to the bandit camp that had first attacked the group when they entered the kingdom many weeks back.

“What’s wrong?” Jane said as she calmed her horse, waiting for Tay to finally catch up.

Something seemed wrong, his tough exterior seemed broken down, normally Tay looked beyond professional and prideful…but he seemed to be stuck in his own head about something.

“hmm? No-It’s nothing” Tay shook his head as he gripped on the reigns of his horse, falling silent again.

“I’ve known you for a few years now Tay, I know what that face is” He sighed “you’re worried”

“I’m not”

“it’s okay to be worried about New, Sure he’s an annoying perverted and slightly sadistic brat, but you’ve been looking after him every day for the past few weeks…It’s okay to be worried” Jane sighed and tilted her head “why do you not want to be near him? Why did you leave him at the ball?”

“because I feel sick around him, he annoys me, and angers me but I can’t help but want to be by his side, it’s this stupid duty over life thing” Tay bickered, he believed that he nhonoured his family name and work so much that he had only been around him for the sake of his duty.

“why do you look upset then?”

“because I failed!” Tay suddenly snapped at her. “I did something beyond irresponsible and now it may cost an innocent man his life, how can I live with myself if I don’t get him back?” Tay whined and suddenly felt the heavy ‘SLAP’ of a gauntlet hitting him, almost knocking him from his horse at the shock.

“stop your damn crying, just shut up and get your job done, stop crying about what could happen and what you’ve failed at and who’s at risk, focus at the task at hand, focus on trying to fix your mistakes, no challenge has ever been overcome with crying and misery, you know that too well, how many battles and ambushes have you lost men in? How many times have you told us getting attached is the one thing that will kill us? How many times have you scolded us for exactly what you’re doing? you’re the best general this kingdom has ever seen and yet you cry like a young boy…you aren’t in training anymore Tay, so take old of those god damn reigns and do what needs to be done” Jane was the best at motivational speaking, out of everybody, as a woman in the military, Jane had the most to lose, she had to push harder to make it into rooms that men could just walk into, she had to fight for every right that men had, so with every fibre of her body she pushed for success. So, in a moment like this she was the only thing that kept the team motivated.

“I know I just- “

“we’re here” Ohm cut Tay’s words short as he approached the barren waste grounds, the grass was dried and dying, the stones were either covered in animal remains freshly skinned or the flag for the bandits camp which was through the cave system another ten minutes on their horse away.

“this looks haunting” Off grumbled as he looked around the place “there’s literally a full skull right there…RIGHT there!” Off pointed before Ohm raised his bow out to hit the back of his head.

“shut up, you’ll alert anybody around us with your fog horn voice” Ohm warned once again, waving his bow at him, watching Off quickly cover his mouth.

“my bad…” Off spoke in a hushed voice.

“this looks like the kind of place…” Jane spoke as she dismounted her horse, taking it to the side, out of view of passers-by, keeping it close to the caves opening would be foolish at this point.

 

* * *

 

 

Meanwhile, through the complex cave system, underground and through hand-built barracks covered in old animal hide and skinned meat, rats running freely through the water that slowly dripped onto the murky unsanitary ground below. Past small nooks for bandits to sleep and fire pits in which they ate and shared the stolen wealth, in the very centre of this health hazard of a home, New lay slouched against the withered wooden pole in which he had been tied to by his wrists. The bandits really did a number on him, beaten to a pulp as they questioned him where the palace’s wealth was kept, knowing that the treasury was no longer used for the riches.

New could only let out a laugh, spitting the blood from his mouth at his captor. “What makes you think…I get told where my father keeps his riches? He spoke with a breathless cackle leaving his lips like a mad man. This was abruptly followed by a pained wince and hiss of complete agony when he felt the captor gripping his shoulder, digging his thumb into the wound that was previously created from their sword earlier than evening.

“even if we don’t get your gold…” they tugged down the old rag they had covered his eyes with and grinned, revealing the unique golden rimmed irises of the prince. “these eyes will go for a pretty penny…not to mention the trade of a prince…I know many that want their hands on the flower boy prince…” New felt a sudden wave of fear as the bandit ran his danger down his cheek, cutting it slightly, But no matter what he did, he had to keep a strong face, even in times that begging for his life seemed like the only thing left to do.

“my eyes are NOT your gold…whatever debts you have? They’ll be payed with your blood only- “New felt the gauntlet covered hand of the other hitting him across the head, knocking him back into the wooden post, knocking the air from his lungs from the force, his head aching far more than before. Slowly the blood dripped from his mouth, feeling no need to even fight against them now, it didn’t seem like he was getting out on his own anyway. He watched the red liquid pool beside him before his head was pulled up by his hair, forcing him to look up. Another twisted cackle leaving his lips. “you seriously think there aren’t people looking for me? You’ll suffer…you’ll ALL SUFFER” New shouted once more before the final blow to the head was what brought about darkness.

The bandit slipped the rags back over his eyes before making his way back to the others, not far from where they were stood. “what’s wrong?” They questioned only to see other raiders and bandits running to a certain point.

“there’s something coming” They conversed and got ready.

In the time that the prince had been suffering, Tay and his group had been making their way through the cave system, taking down anything that moved, showing no mercy in the slightest. It was his job to protect the emperor and his family, not anybody bellow them, especially not those that threaten their safety.

They were beyond outnumbered if they had stepped a foot out of line, if they alerted the bandits that they were there, they’d all be dead, the kingdom would lose its only heir and most likely fall to ruin. It was a do or die task, and Tay knew his team was the best.

Ohm and Jane due to being long distanced fighters were stood behind Tay and Off who were more brutes in their skills, reckless and always running head first into problems, it pretty much summed up their personalities too, always going right into situations and dealing with the risks first hand without thinking of how it affected others.

“Watch out!” Jane snapped from slightly behind Tay, noting the archer above. But Tay had gotten too in his head, too distracted, that was until he felt the arrow graze his arm, slashing the skin which would have usually been covered by armour if it wasn’t for News poor choice of robes.

“ah! Shit, why can’t you listen to her for once?!” Off asked as he grabbed at Tay, ensuring that he wasn’t completely hit.

“I- I’ll be fine…” Tay shook his head “nothing I can’t handle” Tay had been through worse, he had been stabbed in the stomach, he had taken arrows to the chest almost killing him, he had fallen from castle walls and through roofs, he had been thrown from bridges by his horse and even captured on several occasions, at this point there was nothing he couldn’t handle, which was why he was so confused by a simple unsettling feeling that sat at the back of his mind. wondering how something like that could distract him.

“keep your damn eyes open” Jane warned as she climbed over the wooden exterior, throwing an alchemy-based potion into the hand-crafted cavern yards below, watching as fire erupted through the shafts from whatever chemicals she had mixed, the blast knocking her back, a bandit catching her as she fell. “aww thanks sugar” she smiled before taking him out with a quick pocket knife to the stomach. As a girl she could pretty much lure anybody in, she had the upper hand too because she looked so ‘fragile’ and ‘small’. She hated the misogynistic view on a woman, she was the strongest out of the whole Emperors guard, she didn’t need validated of it, but she didn't enjoy being treated like a little girl.

 

* * *

 

 

"you can’t keep doing that, what if you got hurt? How am I supposed to keep the others alive if you die huh? I don’t know what they eat” Tay whined and pushed past.

“oh yeah because they don’t just eat anything in the first place huh?” Jane retorted as she made her way over to Tay, Pulling a small potion from her belt.

“hey- hey what are you doing?!” Tay bickered, trying to pull his injured arm back when she took hold of it.

“do you want it to get infected? Then you die on the job and the emperor has you thrown out for being a pussy?! Give me your arm, I don’t have time for this” Jane spoke more like a mother than a member of his team. “this might sting”

“oh yeah? Jane I’ve been st-HOLY SHIT- “Tay snapped, feeling Janes hand cover his mouth, signalling him to be silent as other voices could be heard.

“be quiet” Jane mouthed before wrapping Tay’s arm in one of the unnecessary lengths of lace from his robe.

Upon venturing further down the rat-infested hallways, the team could hear voices more clearly, understanding what they spoke about.

“it seems they’re running low on bandits” Jane whispered to Off

“no shit, you blew up like three quarters of their men” Off replied only to be nudged again by Ohm for being too loud again.

“sorry” Off laughed nervously before watching Ohm pull his bow up, readying an arrow. “what are you doing?” Off asked before Ohm released the arrow, then suddenly the talking fell silent.

“get your blade out and shut up” Ohm blurted out, he wasn’t in a good mood as it is, so for this inconvenience to arise, he just wanted to get it over and done with.

For a further fifteen minutes, the team exhausted themselves, defending themselves against the group of bandits that remained, fighting off and many as they could for as long as possible until finally all was quiet.

“TAY!” Jane snapped and pointed to the centre where there lay a beaten figure in a blood-stained white shirt with a rag his eyes, not moving, a small trail of blood slowly dripped from his lips.

And as Tay focused on the figure, his features became more familiar. His heart jumped in his chest when he realised completely that it was the prince, New remained still, slouched forward, still tied to the wooden pole, for goodness knows how long. His face bruised, cut and beaten, it was a sight for sore eyes and a worse sight for Tay to see as he suddenly felt a wave of anger towards himself for not protecting him, but more than anything he was worried.

“New!...” Tay threw his sword down as his feet pounded into the mud and stone, stumbling over old roots that stuck up from the ground, practically sliding and skinning his knee’s as he fell quickly to his height, grabbing his face in his hands, not even bothering to remove the rags from his eyes, his first concern was to make sure he was even breathing. “so faint…” he spoke quietly as he turned his head side to side to check the damage, then checked for his breathing, New’s chest rose and fell so slightly that Tay was sure that he couldn’t see motion at all. “oh no…Jane…JANE I don’t think he’s breathing!” Tay panicked and shook him, his voice cracking as he thought about the prince dying “JANE!” He shouted again, but in the last moment as she made her way to their side, New spluttered a mouthful of blood out and over Tay’s shirt and face, Causing the others to either laugh at the mess of sigh in relief at the fact this meant they could keep their heads.

“for the love of god, you almost scared me to death!” Tay snapped as he heard the pained chuckle from New.

“did you think…Think you could get rid of me that easily? Huh?” New asked before letting his head drop. ‘I knew he wouldn’t leave me’ New thought to himself.

“shut up, I didn’t want any of this” Tay grumbled and pulled at the rags, removing the blindfold from his eyes, but in that moment New shut his eyes tightly as if he was hurt, as if his vision had been obscured and damaged.

“why-why aren’t you opening your eyes? You’re fine, I’ve got you…you’re safe now” Tay spoke as he still looked at New who only shook his eyes, wincing slightly at the pain in his shoulder when Tay placed his hand there. “New open your eyes…please” The thought of the Prince being blinded terrified him; how could he explain that?

“I- I can’t” New simply choked out, shaking slightly from how panicked he had become. He felt the presence of Tay leave quickly when Jane shoved him to the side.

“go check the halls, I know medicine, I’ll deal with him” Jane reassured as she pulled out the items from her belt she would need.

And when the room finally fell silent only then did New open his eyes slowly, looking up at Jane, the golden rings peering up at her made her drop her potions.

“JANE?! Are you alright?” Tay shouted from down the halls concerned that something might have happened to them

“no! no! I-I’m fine! w-we’re fine” Jane replied and looked at the almost desperate expression on New’s face.

“please…please don’t tell him, you can’t let him know who I am, I’m begging you Jane.” New pleaded, if he wasn’t already on his knee’s he would drop to them and grovel and beg until she promised not to reveal the identity behind ‘Thorn’ which she knew so much about from Tay’s drunken babbling whenever he returned to the barracks.

“you’re – you’re- “totally speechless, Jane really had no idea what to say, she hadn’t expected this in the slightest. All she continued to do was lean around New and cut his wrists free from the rope that held them. “you’re all hurt…your highness” she spoke as the others entered the room, giving him a look that just let him know his secret was safe with her.

“is he alright?” Tay asked with worry still in his tone.

“mmhmm” Jane responded, going through her satchel, fixing the items and medicines she would need for New’s injuries, wrapping his wounds as best she could with the little previsions she had. “we’ll fix this once we’re back; I have better materials bat the barracks.” She spoke calmly, but it was obvious how panicked she seemed, she had just found out something that was enough to destroy her teams trust in her if she kept the secret, but it would also make the prince lose trust in her if she spoke of it. Right now, she was torn.

“head back first…the prince rides with me” Tay said as he went to take hold of New.

“n-No! I…I want to go with Jane…not you- “New gulped “I don’t want to be a burden to you any longer” he spoke quietly, trying to think of a reason not to ride with him.

“but- “

“you heard him Tay, you’ve done enough I think…go” Jane spoke bluntly, making Tay feel a pang of guilt, it wasn’t a nice feeling, all these emotions at one felt horrible, it made him feel sick.

“alright, please see he gets back safely” Tay spoke before picking his sword up and sheathing it.

 

* * *

 

 

The journey through the cave system took a while due to New being so weak, his injuries taking a toll on his body. But once Jane had helped him onto their horse he was able to rest.

“so…start talking, there’s nobody around and you have a lot of explaining to do” Jane said after a few minutes of silence.

“I-I like Tay…” was all he wanted to say, even in a situation like this he was stubborn and not ready to open up.

“quit the vague act, if I’m keeping not only your eyes, but now you like Tay a secret.... then you better start talking, or I’ll spill the whole thing to the emperor”

“you wouldn’t!”

“I would, and I’d watch from my damn horse with a grin, don’t test me brat” Jane’s words had somewhat of a sting to them, making New huff slightly, knowing in no way could dodge this moment. “tell me from the beginning, I don’t care how long it takes, I’ve got all the time in the world, you don’t though, those wounds look infected as it is” Jane sighed and calmed her horse for it to walk more slowly.

“I-It was at the gardens! “ He blurted out “the day before he was appointed as my guard, I saw with my usual group…the flower boys, and I didn’t know who he was but I swear to you he was the only thing I payed attention to all night, and I met him outside, we kissed and…it felt strange to begin with, just a little bit of fun, I thought it would be at least, until he came by the gardens again and found me, he wouldn’t go away and I knew after he was my guard I was to avoid him, but I just couldn’t, seeing him every day, and then almost every night? it had gotten to be too much for me and I found myself getting attached and possibly even clingy with him? I didn’t mean for it to happen, but then he approached me at the ball, asking for ‘Thorn’ and he wouldn’t leave me alone, all night asking and asking…and I just wanted his attention, not this Thorn.”

“but you are thorn? You’re jealous of yourself?” Jane asked confused.

“I’m jealous that he only wants this slut...The garden is practically a whore house, like what about me? I’m not always like that, I’m not THAT person…but he wants Thorn and not New.” He frowned and held onto the horse.

“you’re the prince, he’s your guard, you can’t be doing this…He thinks he really likes this Thorn; he talks about them all the time…do you know what finding this out will do to him? New this could destroy him…he’s survived a lot, but he wouldn’t survive this…”

“that’s why I plan to never let him know”

“you can’t keep this up, he’ll find out, you can’t see him again…no matter how much you think you can’t stay away, you need to try”

New knew that it was exactly what he had to do, Tay deserved to be happy with somebody else, somebody that wouldn’t cause him pain, somebody that didn’t lie to him…somebody real. Not Thorn, a persona created by a greedy prince that wanted more than one lover in his life.

“alright alright, enough of this talk, promise you’ll never tell a soul, I can’t have people thinking I’m weak” He said, wiping his eyes slightly.

“fine, but only if you answer one more thing” Jane raised a brow “your skills as an alchemist...don6’'t think I haven’t noticed them, I look after Tay every time you mess with him…so spill, before I ditch you from the horse and make you walk back” Jane warned, unsure if she was totally being serious or not.

“court mage…”

“the one that was sentenced to death?” Jane questioned.

“yes…he wasn’t evil like everybody says…”

“they say he threatened to kill the empress.”

“They also said the empress died from drinking bad wine, do you believe anything the emperor tells you now?” New scoffed.

“well…no, but if she didn’t die from the wine, then how did she die?” Jane enjoyed mysteries, she hadn’t ever believed that the empress had died of bad wine, and she didn’t trust the emperor, she knew something was wrong, and as a young girl who idolized the empress, she didn’t believe she would be foolish enough to drink bad wine.

“I think she poisoned herself, but I don’t think she meant to die”

“what do you mean?”

“I mean, I think those who died within a week of her were linked to her death…she fell sick, and upon her death the court alchemist was sentenced to death- “

“and then Tay’s father.” Jane butted in quickly. “so, what do you think they have to do with this? They plotted to kill her?”

“no” New grumbled “I think my mother wanted to fake her death, and the court alchemist was killed for helping her, perhaps my father found out, I think he killed her, I don’t quite know why Tay’s father died…but the timing seems strange”

“don’t make conspiracy theories, Tay’s father died protecting the emperor” Jane corrected bluntly.

“but did he? Really?” New didn’t believe anything his father told him.

“yes…now keep your trap shut about this around Tay…his father’s death isn’t something he needs brought up around him, especially with you trying to make something out of nothing, he’ll go crazy thinking the emperor conspired to rid the kingdom of his father.”

“I’ll keep it quiet…I promise” New spoke quietly then looked up to see them coming close to the gates of the city.

Once inside the barracks and safe, New thanked Jane, for everything, right down to giving him somebody to confide in, he didn’t have anybody he trusted enough with this information and keeping it bottled up was eating away at him. Jane simply patched up his wounds and added medicine were needed “promise me you’ll keep these hidden from your father?”

“I promise…”

“and your face?” Jane motioned a hand over the bruising.

“I decided to train a little harder but hurt myself whilst doing so…” New sighed and slipped himself up from the table he was sat on.

“hey, wait- “Jane grabbed his arm and handed him a small bottle.

“what’s this? Poison? Because I could do with that right now” he laughed at his bad excuse of a joke.

“what? No! it’s something I mixed up, I used it when I sneaked into the military, drop the mixture in your eyes, it’ll change the colour…this should hide the golden colour, but if your eyes water it will wear off” Jane warned.

“how did this hide you were a woman?” New asked to which Jane only chuckled.

“my slave owner didn’t own any blue eyed girls, with this it helped me leave, they saw my eyes and didn’t think I was a runaway girl, and I ran off and sneaked into the military, there’s much more to that story, BUT that is also a story for another night, for now, you should sleep your highness” Jane smiled and ruffled his hair.

“alright…thank you, for everything Jane…” New smiled weakly before dragging her into a tight hug, Jane reminded him so much of his mother that it scared him, but he didn’t mind, it was nice to have a mother figure around.

 

* * *

 

 

Once New had sneaked back into the main palace grounds, he took the side halls and passages back to his own room, stopping at the door and checking slightly for anybody that could be around, he questioned going to a room without a balcony for the night, for the main reason that he was terrified of what had just happened to occur all over again. And this time he didn’t have a blade at hand, only himself and a strange potion given to him by a rather angry woman.

‘you’re fine…you’re safe…’ He told himself as he slowly pushed the door open, finding Tay still fully gowned, fast asleep on one side of the bed, half slouched as if he had been sat up waiting for him to come back.

New would have woken him and complained, told him off and sent him to his own bed, but he was so tired, and so scared of being alone right now ‘you need to stay away from him’ New reminded himself before he sat on the free side of the bed that faced the balcony, dropping two little drops of the potion in his eyes, looking towards the mirrors beside his bed, seeing as the gold of his eyes were soon just a dull brown, sighing in relief  ‘you can’t let him know…’ he frowned as removed his robes, throwing the shirt covered in blood to the side, resting down on his bed in only trousers, he was sure Tay wouldn’t mind as it was New’s bed after all.

As he finally rested down to sleep, he couldn’t help but look at the balcony as if he was expecting something, or someone, there was a constant feeling of fear clouding his mind as he looked along the marble balcony, stained with his own blood. The feeling of discomfort grew stronger and stronger until he felt an arm loosely wrap around him. ‘Tay?’ he gulped questioning if he was awake. But as he looked over his shoulder he wasn’t, he had only moved in his sleep, probably thinking New was a pillow of sorts. With Tay holding him, New would be lying if he had said that he hadn’t felt safe, he felt calm and, slowly moving back more to press into his arms, Tay’s hold on him tightening slightly as New allowed himself to rest, the fears that had just previously bothered him leaving his mind as his exhaustion finally took him.


	7. Chapter 7

The following morning all was silent, there was no panicked rush of maids, there was no shoving and prodding from Tay telling him to get up and there was no freezing morning breeze brushing off of him like there usually was, it was peaceful and quiet and warm. New slowly opened his eyes to look at the scenery in front of him, waking up in the morning was always the worst for him, he wasn’t a morning person so usually he would lay for an hour or two just staring blankly ahead of himself. But this morning was different, as he opened his eyes and focused fully, a small smile formed on his lips as he saw Tay still fast asleep, nestled into the bed with an arm still draped over News waist, holding him close to the point they were chest to chest.

He knew it was wrong, he knew that Jane had told him to stop this, to save them both the pain…but looking at him now, New just couldn’t help himself. He looked over his features, his tan skin practically glistening as the morning sun peered onto him from over the horizon. His features were strong and defined whilst his long dark eyelashes created this soft nature about him. New didn’t know what it was about him that made him so hard to resist, whether it was the cat and mouse game between them both, and the fact that every time he looked at him he could only think about those times their lips had met. Slowly News hand raised, resting on his cheek slightly as he ran his thumb over the cut on Tay’s cheek ‘he needs to be more careful’ he thought to himself, throwing slightly, knowing he was the reason that Tay got hurt. His hand slowly caressed down his cheek, his eyes following over his features until they rested on his lips, just being close to him ignited this fire in New, he wanted to be as close to him as possible, he couldn’t help it. Slowly he brushed his thumb over his bottom lip, losing himself in thought, questioning if what he was doing was in fact right or if he had to stop this now and for good.

After a few more moments of admiring Tay’s features, New heard ‘tap’ ‘tap’ ‘tap’ on the balcony behind him, feeling his smile face and his breathing grow shallow, it was like he had died a little when he heard the familiar sound, and the memories of the night before suddenly came rushing back to him like flood gates being opened. He threw himself up in his bed, pulling away from Tay’s embrace as he moved his hand to his side table, trying to grab the royal blade he kept close by. his heart beating faster than anything, his fight or flight instincts kicking in as he turned quickly to look at the balcony, seeing it empty apart from a morning bird tapping it’s little feet along the marble balcony. Feeling stupid and terrified, New leaned back into the bed, shaking from fear, he had never felt so scared and useless in his whole life.

Tay had woken the second he felt the panicked motions from New, sitting up quickly and looking up at the balcony that had a simple bird resting, then his eyes fell on the terrified prince who sat holding his knees, his eyes shut tights as he practically whimpered out in fear. It hurt seeing him like this, he had never been affected by situations like this before, but now that he sat beside New, watching how his own errors affected him, he couldn’t help but allow the guilt and worry to get to him.

“New?” Tay saw him holding the royal blade and slowly pried it from his hands, placing it down on the table beside them before shaking his arm slightly “New answer me…please?”

The prince only shook his head, his eyes pinched shut tightly, his whole body practically shook from complete and utter gut-wrenching fear. “I-I can’t…I can’t…” New gasped and stuttered out, hardly able to calm himself.

“New…listen to me.” Tay took his head in his hands, tilting his head up slowly, the feeling of being safe returned once again, not as much as the night before, but enough for him to allow his eyes to open, looking up at Tay in shock, for a moment he had forgotten he had the potion in for his eyes.

As they finally met eyes for the first time out of News persona of Thorn, it was like the two finally clicked, like there wasn’t any anger towards one another, like there was no bitterness and definitely no feelings of disgust or ill intent towards one another. It was just calm, neutral. Tay only wanted to calm New, he was worried sick the night before when he waited in his room for him to come back.

“You’re alright now, I’m with you and I won’t let anybody get to you, I promise you, with my life I’ll protect you…” Tay played with his hair slightly “I promise I’ll stay by your side” He didn’t quite understand how to calm people in these situations, but he had to try think of what he was told when he got the news of his father passing, his families maid had sat him down, promising him that everything would be okay and that he couldn’t be harmed anymore, that his father was safe, and so was he.

The longer Tay played with New’s hair, the calmer and quieter he became, no longer shaking, no longer whimpering like a frightened dog, instead, he simply looked over Tay’s features again, taking in every single part of him, making mental notes of his small flaws, not to judge him for them, but it only made him far more unique in News eyes.

“are you alright now?” Tay asked, his fingers still running through New’s hair slowly.

A small nod in response, no words, no expression followed, only the slightly dazed blank stare of a man with nothing on his mind.

“and you feel safe?”

Yet again another small nod.

“good, I was scared I had broken you for good” Tay chuckled softly before removing his hands completely “I’m sorry…about what the bandits did to you, it’s horrible being in that position, I was once grabbed by a bandit camp too, when I was training…almost lost my life” Tay said as he sat back.

At this point New had finally dragged himself from his beyond dazed moment. “I-why…why did you stay?  you could have gone to your own room, to your own bed?” New finally managed to ask.

“hmm? Oh…I did go there first, but I kept thinking about you, and I guess I was too worried to sleep” Tay shrugged and tilted New’s head to the side, checking out the cuts on his face. “I should let you beat me up this bad…allow you to get even”

“you were worried about me? But you’re part of the emperors guard…you shouldn’t worry…” New had never had a guard that cared for him, they always treated him so bitterly, usually shoving him around, they wouldn’t understand his jokes either, they just punished him where they thought was suitable.

“what? New I’m a guard, not an emotionless freak…” Tay scoffed and swung his legs to the side of the bed.

“you sure about that?” New smiled weakly as he enjoyed seeing his reaction.

Tay was just not in the mood for his jokes and games at the moment, letting out a low sigh as he pushed himself from the bed. “you know what? Fuck you, next time I’ll leave you” he warned, which even New knew he didn’t mean that. 

New watched as Tay stood from the bed “I doubt that” New smiled as he leaned over, taking hold of Tay’s wrist and pulling him back onto the bed, moving slightly to lean over him, making sure he didn’t run right away.

“nggh New?! Let me go” Tay wriggled and flailed slightly for a few moments before stopping as he looked up at the prince, gulping slightly as he looked at them, “I-I…your highness…move please, I’m-“ Tay looked over him again before turning his head to the side “I’m not into this” he admitted, sparking News interest.

“hmm? Men?” New questioned.

“no- you” Tay said as he looked up at New, watching the prince’s cocky smirk fade away slowly ‘why does that make me feel so strange?’ he asked himself, the prince’s thrown really did make him uneasy.

At this point New should have known his questions were going to get him hurt at one point, and that moment was now. Of course, the person Tay was into was Thorn…Tay was practically in love with the idea of Thorn, he chased them everywhere without complaint, Thorn had Tay wrapped around his little finger, whereas New? New couldn’t even get Tay’s attention the way he got his attention in his persona.

“f-fine…” New sat up quickly “you’re no fun anyway” He cleared his throat before standing up from the bed, his body still aching and sore, cut and tore in places.

“I’m not supposed to be.” Tay responded as he got up from the bed, fixing his robes.

“yes…yes you are, you know what? Forget it. I want to go to the market, you have to take me” New said sternly, practically commanding him.

“what? No! you’re not going back out like this” Tay snapped.

“what? Do you want to stay in? Ignore what I say once again? Not follow me where I ask? Not stay by my side? Goodness knows what could happen, I may find some bandits to walk me around” New grumbled in annoyance “with or without you, either way I’m going to the market” New huffed out, he needed to put his foot down, he was too soft on Tay.

“I…I?” Tay only sighed, hiding his annoyance, New was right, it was his job to look after him and take him around places. “fine!” He groaned as he dragged himself to his feet, wincing slightly as his arm brushed one of the stone pillars.

“what’s wrong with your arm?” New asked abruptly.

“same thing that’s wrong with your face,  got hit” Tay held his arm as he pulled back his robe, watching as the blood of his found had stained the ribbon wrapped around it, he had meant to change it to a bandage and take care of it, but he seemed to have forgotten to due to the worry that clouded him mind. New seriously had become a distraction recently.

“that…uh…” New raised a hand and pushed Tay back to sit on the bed before making his way to the glad cabinets of his room, taking out a small crystal covered box. “just stay there” he said as he dashed back and forth picking things up, jumping back down onto the bed beside his guard.

“what are you doing?” Tay questioned as he watched New mix liquids and take out roles of bandage, patches of woven sunroot were placed out too.

“I’m making sure you don’t die of an infection.” New said as he tried to move his arm as little as possible, Tay had only gotten a slight slash to the first few layers of skin on his arm, but New had taken a blade through the shoulder, yet he didn’t want to seem like too much of a burden to Tay, if he did, perhaps it would only distance them.

“fine just…go easy, Jane wasn’t the gentlest.” Tay stated before watching as New held up one of the bed cushions.

“this might hurt…” New stated but Tay simply shook his head,

“I can handle whatever you throw at me” Tay knocked the cushion aside and raised his arm slightly for New to get to the wound.

The second New placed the alcohol laced cloth to his wound, Tay was squirming like a child “AH! No, I can’t!”

“what was that?” New chuckled and continued to clean around his cut.

“Give me the pillow!” Tay snapped before biting down on it, New working quickly, cleaning up what he could before stitching through the skin, applying a sunroot patch and wrapping his arm.

“you’re such a baby, you can’t even handle being stitched up?”

“I’m normally unconscious when they do it that’s why” Tay grumbled as he slipped his robe back over his shoulder.

“I hand stitch all my own wounds…whilst I’m awake…no alcohol to numb the pain” New looked dumbly at Tay, shaking his head at how weak he really seemed.

Tay only huffed and stood, it felt like New was poking holes in everything he did and everything he tried to do, like no matter how good he was, he wasn’t good enough in News eyes, or his faults just couldn’t be undone. “that’s because you’re a bit of a masochist” Tay mumbled out before going to the door.

“where are you going?”

“you want to go to the market; you have twenty minutes to get ready…don’t cause any problems” Tay pulled the door open and went to his own room to change from the tore and blood-stained royal robes he still wore from the night before.

He was fine going with the prince to the market, it was just the thought of having him out of his sight that worried him, what would happen if next time he just couldn’t find him? Or something worse that a wound to the shoulder happened? If New was injured like this again Tay knew for sure he wouldn’t cope, he would hold himself accountable again.

Tay bickered with himself more before making his way to News door once again “your highness if you’re not ready I’m not taking you- “

The door swung open and there stood New with his hair placed back, his skin, the imperfections caused by the night before? Completely covered, of course with the exception of the cuts along his face. His robes…’where have I seen them before?’ Tay asked himself before putting a hand out to stop New passing him.

“where did you get those?” he asked, motioning a finger up and down News body.

“what? My robes? They’re mine…created by the court? For me? Why would you ask such a dumb question?” New asked, rolling his eyes and shoving past him, but only then did he realise that he had been wearing the same robe he always wore to the gardens as ‘thorn’ and he had just informed Tay that these robes were only made by the court. He prayed he wasn’t smart enough to piece everything together. But in all seriousness, New wasn’t worried in the slightest, Tay seemed all muscle no brains at this point, Jane honestly was the wise one of their group.

Tay grabbed onto News shoulder as he passed, forgetting his wound “hey wai- oh my god I’m…I’m sorry I forgot you were- “

“shh…you aren’t supposed to be letting anybody know about what happened last night” New warned then turned away to walk, moving his shoulder slightly to get it comfortable again.

“sorry just- I’ve seen all of your silks, I’ve never seen this one, at least not on you”

“you have, I wear it a lot” well he wasn’t lying…he did wear it often, mainly at the garden.

“do you?” Tay questioned if his observation skills were just lacking.

“yes, really, all the time…now are you going to accompany me to the market or are we going to speak about my robes all day?” New asked as he pointed to the belt of the robe “I can easily take it off it you want a better look?” He raised a brow and Tay quickly stepped away, shaking his head.

“let’s uh…let’s go then, your- Your highness” Tay gulped slightly as he walked ahead of him.

 

 

* * *

 

 

From the prince’s choice of words, Tay had expected accompany the prince around the merchants city, the flower markets and perhaps the bakers ally, the highlight points for members of the royal court to pass by. It was guarded, safe and always lively, nothing wrong apart from the poor perhaps stealing a loaf of bread ever went wrong there.

But Tay really thought wrong as New continued past the light streets of the merchant city, under the bridges of the flower markets, and even past the black smiths yard, n6not stopping once, even though Tay demanded to know where they were going.

New silenced Tay each time, warning him that his place was to stay silent unless spoken to when accompanying royalty. As New continued deeper and deeper into the city, the amount of guards depleted, the clean cobble path ways soon became muddy alleyways. Curving down past the worst of the city, even beyond the gardens which was in a bad enough area.

Every once in a while, one of the citizens would come up to the prince, recognizing him from his younger years and greet him, but this never happened in the richer parts of the city, only areas where the lower class roamed, which made Tay question just how the prince was raised. He didn’t know much of the young prince’s early life, but he did know that his mother put her heart and soul into the lower class and slaves of the city, trying to free them and better their living, meeting with the lower class, allowing them a place in the royal court, she was an advocate for the poor, the rich despised her for that, but when your kingdom is built of 90 of people trapped in poverty, the rich really had no say in what the empress did.

“Newwie? Is that you?” An older woman asked as she stepped out onto the path.

“ah! Godji! I thought you still travelled between kingdoms? What are you doing here?” he asked as he looked at the woman ahead of him.

“me? Oh, you know me, I can’t leave Gun alone in this city for one minute without him setting something on fire or hurting himself” the older woman laughed, looking over at Tay.

“you’re the palace boy!” The woman spoke abruptly as she pointed at Tay who stood confused as to who she was.

“huh? Me? You must have me mistaken for somebody else” Tay raised his hands and shook his head in protest.

“yes! You, I looked after you when you were just the height of my damn knee” Godji huffed “and the fact you’ve forgotten me, what a brat, who do you think looked after you when your father was away on his journeys? Who fed you? Bathed you? Bathed you? Removed that arrow from your chest when you accidentally shot yourself? You stupid boy” Godji snapped slightly. She had been the maid of Tay’s family for years when Tay was younger but left to travel after Tay’s father passed away.

“I…you? I was told you died?” Tay looked at the now familiar face, pushing New out of the way as he hugged into the woman that acted as a mother figure to him for many years.

“me? Die? No! I went to travel the land, then came back when New’s friend Gun took residence in the city.” Godji explained and held Tay’s face. “you’ve been getting in fights again”

“just a few” Tay laughed light heartedly, New only looked between them both confused, Tay was acting like a big kid, he had never seen him smiling this much or even hug into somebody before, he certainly didn’t seem like the type to act like a big kid.

“what? Is going on?” New asked as he stepped in between them, only to feel Godji’s hand on his face, pushing him back.

“quiet boy the adults are speaking” she grumbled before taking Tay’s hands. “you’re eating well right? Not skipping meals? I heard you’re this brats guard now…you need to eat more to match the stress” She joked only for New to whine.

“why do you all call me a brat?” he asked, stomping his foot in an almost childish manner, Tay only staring at him, slowly blinking, the answer was obvious.

“I’m eating well, but I’m on duty now, so I promise I’ll meet with you at another time” Tay smiled and hugged his mother figure once more before looking back at New. “shall we go?” he said before saying his final goodbyes.

They travelled even further into the depths of the city, and due to the royal pin Tay wore, and that few recognized the prince, the owners of the stall shied away or kept to themselves. “New we really shouldn’t be this far from the palace, it doesn’t seem safe” Tay admitted as he looked around, it was filthy and those surrounding the area weren’t the nicest looking people either.

“I know this place better than the palace Tay, calm down, I just need a few things that’s all, isn’t it better to get out of the palace for some fresh air?”

“FRESH?” Tay scoffed “that stuff stopped back at the flower market, I can only smell what’s getting thrown on the streets now” It was true, the hygiene of the land wasn’t the best, but New had grown up speaking around these streets, it was like a second home to him.

“you’re the last person to complain about hygiene, didn’t you sleep in your blood and mud marked robes last night?” New scowled as he moved deeper into the black markets under the slum bridges, greeting those that spoke to him.

“can you not send somebody to get whatever items you need?” Tay was starting to annoy New at this point, but he wasn’t prepared to send him away just yet.

“No” New turned away from him, he was adamant that he had items he needed to collect himself. And soon enough they stopped at a stall not too far from the inner-city walls. It was a stall covered with exotic looking herbs, strange looking items, possibly stolen artefacts and of course the most illegal of ingredients.

“New- “

Tay watched over what the prince did, watching him slip his gloves on as he collected the items he needed, purchasing a decent amount of almost every item there, handing over a pouch of black gold coins, in the black markets, normal gold was useless, any man could pay with gold, guards, royalty…but only a genuine member of the society could acquire these specific black coins. Tay knew of them from Jane who spent most of her time in these market places.

“what’s this?” Tay asked the stall owner, looking at a bright red paste like substance, touching the product with his bare hands, not thinking anything of it, but upon touching the familiar looking item, his fingers started to tingle, feeling numb.

“it’s a red paste created from snakes venom, enough of it and you could put an ox to sleep” The stall owner explained.

‘so that’s what was on their lips before…’ Tay thought as he looked up at New who had bought an excessive amount of this product. ‘why would a prince need this?’ Tay questioned as he followed after him, along the city walls and into the darkened areas which many had carved and created under the wall.

“Your highness wait up- It isn’t safe to be in these parts…I advise we turn back. NOW” Tay spoke bluntly only to hear a scoff from New, he was done listening to him.

“nothing’s going to go wro- “News words were cut short when he heard the familiar sound of a sword being unsheathed.

Following this, the sound of boots hitting the cobbles could be heard. “this is no place for royals” one of the several men spoke.

New and Tay both reached for their swords, only to be grabbed before they could even reach them.

“oh my god Tay you are the WORST guard” New bickered as he flailed his legs, trying to kick his way free, he didn’t feel like getting dissected today.

“I’m the worst guard? I was telling you to head back!” Tay snapped slightly and whilst the thieves of the city held them, they simply stood, watching the prince and his guard complain about who was the worst kind of person.

“y’know what? No! you’re the worst kind of person” Tay said throwing his head back, hitting the person that held him hard in the nose, giving him enough time to draw his sword, but yet again this was no use as another simply held him.

“idiot” New slouched “what do you want this time? Gold? Black gold? Blood? His left ear? You can even take his leg, I won’t mind” New stated as they started to pull them down the b5cobble towards the steps bellow the city walls.

“you to shut up for a start…” Tay grumbled. The two of them side by side were bigger distractions to each other than they were apart.

“why? I’m trying to barging, don’t you think that’s the best thing for me to do- “New heard a ‘thwip’ whistle past his ear, the thieve that held Tay collapsing form the Arrow he took to the head.

Tay glanced up and saw the royal red feathers of Ohm’s arrow “ohm” he looked up quickly and saw him perched on the city wall above.

“INCOMING!” Jane shouted from Ohms side, dropping a bottle down which created a thick smoke cloud around the whole area.

The second the smoke engulfed their path, New threw himself back as hard as possible, crushing those behind him between the wall and himself, after a few solid hits, New felt the grasp on his arms finely slacken enough for him to pull free, of course not before he had hit his head on the wall, causing himself to stumble almost blindly through the smoky streets, trying his hardest to avoid the arrows that rained from above.

New drew his swords as he felt somebody grabbing his arm, only to come face to face with Tay. “it’s me…come on! You breath this stuff in much longer and I’ll be clearing 10 corpses from the streets later” Tay said whilst pulling New from the alley towards the ladder of the city walls, helping him up and out of the thieves reach. 

New slouched over the stone of the walls, coughing and wheezing from the smoke potion that had been dropped on them, shaking his head when met with the question Tay kept asking over and over, was he ‘okay?’ of course he wasn’t, for a second time in the space of two days, New had almost been kidnapped, and Jane had to come to his rescue once again, not Tay. If they hadn’t shown up again, they most likely would be pig food by now.

Tay held him up and looked over him, making sure he wasn’t hurt again, feeling like he once again failed to protect him. “I think, you need a new guard.” Tay spoke quietly as he pulled him up, allowing New to slouch over his back as he made his way along the city walls to the guards entrance to the palace.

“what? No” New hadn’t even realised that his grip on Tay had tightened at the mention of Tay being replaced.

“why? You could have gotten seriously hurt today, all because I can’t look after anybody right, I keep getting distracted. I need to focus on my surroundings and not just on you” Tay sighed as he adjusted New on his back.

“but? I wasn’t bothered?  Every time I get hurt you somehow make sure I’m alright” New frowned “I’m not letting you leave your post, so stop thinking you’ve failed me, I’m still alive aren’t I?” New asked.

“yes, but you’re hurt- “

“because of my own stubborn foolishness. Not because you failed to protect me, not because you got distracted, because I keep dragging you into dangerous situations” New saw them coming up to the palace gated and sighed “I’ll walk from here…my legs…weren’t hurt so you actually didn’t need to carry me-“ New mumbled as he slipped from Tay’s back.

“why did you stay on my back if you could walk?”

“because I wanted to?”

“well I wanted to carry you…is that so bad?” Tay asked as he walked with New, taking side passages to his room, sitting him down.

“you know, I don’t feel like leaving my room for a while, you can leave your post until I call on you” New sighed as he got back onto his bed, throwing his robe off, the wound on his shoulder more damaged than before.

“but- “

“no buts…just go do what you need to do, I’ll just bother you” New mumbled as he threw himself back on his bed.

“only if you’re sure about that- “

“yes! Go! Live your pathetic grumpy person life…I’m tired” New spoke out of frustration, he was angry at himself at this moment in time, mainly for how he had seemed to upset Tay earlier.

“alright…I’ll be by the gardens if I’m needed” Tay stated letting him know that the guards wouldn’t be able to find him if New sent for him.

“okay…” New said as he fixed his robes to the side, removing the newly bought ingredients and putting them to away, as the door to his room finally shut it was like Tay’s words finally processed. ‘he’s going to the gardens…he’s going to look for Thorn, he’s looking for thorn’ he scurried carelessly from the case of ingredients he kept, right into his wardrobe, pulling out the items he would need for that evening.


	8. Chapter 8

Tay was finally sat in his usual space of the gardens, slouched into a few cushions with a glass of room temperature wine in his hand, although he was surrounded by his friends, by the company of many others on top of that. Tay only had eyes for one person, and after such a stressful week there was only one person that Tay wanted to see. Thorn. But almost three hours had passed of constantly drinking chalice after chalice of wine, and still there was no sign of the golden eyed male. The more wine he drank, the less bitter it seemed, he was no longer scrunching his face up in disgust at every single sip that he had, it was obvious he had become slipped away into complete drunkenness, because nobody enjoyed the cheap wine the Gardens offered, but Tay had begun to find it sweet and enjoyable. Unlike his company.

Beside him sat Off, who had Gun on his lap. Gun had been scolding Off for the bruising over his face, yelling at him for being foolish enough to get in trouble so often. “what if that was worse? What if that was an arrow to the eye? What if you got a sword to the gut?! You could have died!” Gun held Off’ face in his hands, sniffling and whining “please stop this, please just stay with me? Don’t go back out to fight!” Gun sniffled and hugged tightly into Off again, a pained chuckle leaving the older males lips, the bruises on his ribs hurt when Gun squeezed him.

“Gun, I can’t promise that, but I promise you I’m not going to just drop dead, okay?” Off pressed small kissed all over the others face, watching as Gun squirmed and wriggled, it was usually Gun kissing Off, not the other way around, which always caused Gun to complain and bicker childishly.

On the other side of Tay sat Ohm who had been drinking just as much as Tay had and just like Tay, Ohm hadn’t sat with anybody but himself all night, Toey and Ohm hadn’t spoken in days now, it was starting to really upset Ohm, but even he knew better that they wouldn’t work out. Toey enjoyed chasing wealth whilst Ohm would rather go out to the fields and chase the farm animals. They weren’t alike in any way, and this wasn’t one of those opposites attract situations, they just broke further and further apart. Neither sharing words, only Ohm meeting Tay’s blank gaze with pained looks. He no longer saw him at the gardens either.

“Stop looking for him” Ssing huffed as he sat beside him, moving the chalice from his lips. “he doesn’t care for you Ohm, and you’re just hurting yourself” Ssing said as he drank the contents of the cup.

“but- “

“but nothing!” Ssing extended a hand as he stood “come on, don’t make me drag you around, I’m here to make sure you have a good time. So, move”

Ohm glanced up at Ssing and sighed in complete and utter defeat, taking hold of his hand as he clumsily climbed to his feet. “either get me more wine or push me in the river, because that’s all I’ve got left for options” Ohm whined, feeling himself being dragged to through the crowd.

 

* * *

 

 

Tay only sat nursing his drink, watching his friends slowly leave throughout the night, but he didn’t care, this still wasn’t the company he wanted.

“still looking for Thorn?” Off asked from over Guns shoulder.

“no…I’m…I’m not looking for anybody other than the wine boy “Tay snapped slightly before shaking his head “I’m sorry…I-I …yes, I haven’t seen them in like a week.”

“you need to get yourself an actual man Tay, this is just tragic” Gun responded, looking back over at him.

“I know, I know…I need to stop drinking too…I have to return for…for duty later for this stupid prince” Tay grumbled and leaned into his palm. He didn’t want to go back, he wanted thorn…even to just was them, to see their golden eyes, it was as if he was having withdrawal symptoms, which was obviously impossible.  “stupid brat, why did he need to be hurt?” Tay spoke bitterly before feeling Off hit his injured arm, making him snap from his drunken line of thought.

“hey! You got hurt protecting somebody too” Off hit his arm again, watching Tay scrunch his face up in pain.

“I don’t care, he causes so much trouble” Tay said before forcing himself up onto his feet “I-I’m going to…I’m going back…” His words slurred and his motions unsteady.

“fine…please be careful” Gun said as he waved goodbye.

Tay took his time to finally reach the exit of the gardens due to the fact he kept stopping to drink chalice after chalice of wine as if it was going out of fashion. Finally, he pushed into the fresh air of the city, bumping into a few people as he tried to steady himself.

“sorr-sorry I’m v-very…” Tay glanced up and found himself meeting eyes with those oh so familiar golden rings. “y-you…”

“it’s me…” New spoke softly as they looked over the drunk in front of him.

“I didn’t think you were coming tonight…”

“I didn’t think you’d come here looking for me.” New chuckled slightly, watching over Tay as he tried to make himself seem as sober as possible, which was hilarious to watch since it was so obvious how drunk Tay really was.

“I- I wasn’t I- I was- “Tay fell silent when he felt New pressing a finger to his lips, slowly trailing it down and towards his chin.

As Tay’s eyes focused on the person he believed was called Thorn, feeling strange, like he was familiar somehow. But looking at him now he just felt like his heart was weak, like he would do anything for them, he hated feeling this vulnerable but at this time he didn’t care.

“can I every know who you are?” Tay asked with a hushed tone.

“never…”

“never?”

“ever…” New hated keeping this a secret, but he couldn’t help but want to be close to Tay.

Leaning close, New pressed their lips to Tay’s, holding him close. It was like his lips were on fire, every time he touched him it was like a new feeling, being close to him, hearing his voice, kissing his lips? Every single thing about him drove him crazy. He couldn’t help himself any longer, he knew he had to stay back, but he was fed up with telling himself what he could and couldn’t have.

Tay snaked his arms around his waist, pulling New close before pressing him back onto the side of the gardens wall, licking along his bottom lip and tilting his head as he deepened the kiss he shared with him.

The second New hit the wall behind him he felt a ripple of pain from his shoulder, wincing at the feeling. which only caused Tay to break their kiss, looking at him with concern in his drunken hooded eyes.

“what’s wrong?” Tay asked, as the material that covered News identity fell back into place.

“nothing...you’re…you’re just such a feisty little thing” New disguised his pain with a low chuckle.

Tay only grumbled and leaned away “I’m just used to getting what I want normally…that’s all”

New rolled his eyes and fixed his robes “too bad you can’t have it this time…not here anyway, somewhere else? A little more private…” New suggested but thinking of where to meet was proving to be a challenge, he had to be smart with his words so Tay would have to work to find him.

“where?…I’ll meet you anywhere”

“meet me next Saturday…where the moon shines at its highest point” New spoke calmly.

“what? But how am I supposed to know where that is?”

“you’ll know if you want to find me again..” New spoke before slipping to the side.

“thorn…wait” New grabbed their arm, pulling him back for a brief second, their lips meeting for once last kiss before New smiled ever so slightly “I’ll see you next Saturday” Tay said as he watched the golden eyed male walk away for yet another time.

 

* * *

 

 

Later that evening Tay returned to the palace, seeing that New was no longer in his room “god damn it- “as Tay turned to rush out and look for him, he heard the sound of New wandering in behind him.

“you! Where have you been?” Tay snapped as he looked at New who was stood at the door, a dumb smile on his lips as he pulled at the lace of his black shirt.

“hmm? Oh, just went out for air” New grinned then looked at Tay “you’re still drunk…”

“I’m no- how did you know I was drinking?”

“I…uh…you always drink, you’re a mess” New said as he wandered past him and to his bed, throwing himself back.

“you need to let me know when you go out, I was worried sick for a moment, I didn’t see you in your bed and thought something had happened!” Tay snapped, but it wasn’t as serious as he tried to be, mainly because his words were still a slurred mess.

New only chuckled to himself at how he sounded “you were worried about me?” He turned and looked up at him, a grin on his lips. “cute…” he pushed himself from the bed and wandered over to Tay “I’m tired…” he slowly pushed him out.

Just as New closed his door over, Tay could have sworn that News eyes weren’t the brown that he was used to seeing “wait NEW- “

The door closed with a solid ‘SLAM’ followed by the click of the locks on the inside of the door.

“that…was close” New huffed out as he threw himself back onto his bed, totally exhausted from the events of that evening, soon falling asleep with the taste of Tay still on his lips.


	9. Chapter 9

On the Wednesday of the following week, Tay had been asked to attend a royal council meeting with the king, he had heard of these meetings before, a gathering in the grand hall of only the most trusted members of the council would be invited, these meetings would be extremely confidential, nobody ever spoke of them and no word ever left from them, but everybody had some idea of what happened, they would discuss recent events to come in the kingdom and discuss the changing of prince to emperor, this would also most likely be accompanied by the bickering of the council trying to decide who was worthy to take the throne if the emperor and prince met their untimely death, god forbid they didn’t.

“Tay, I hope you understand that anything you hear in this room you can’t tell a single soul, you can’t tell the remaining members of the emperors guard, you can’t tell your family, and if we decide to not mention something in front of my son, you do NOT mention that information to him, are we clear?” The emperor said sternly, receiving a slight not from Tay.

“I understand your highness” Tay spoke calmly before entering the great hall, standing behind the emperor as he sat.

“emperor…good of you to finally decide to join us” One of the oldest looking council members spoke as he lounged back on the second grandest chair in the room, besides the emperors seat of course.

“yes, yes, to business quickly, I don’t have all evening.” The emperor grumbled in annoyance.

“oh yes…The prince, the time draws nearer and nearer for him to fulfil his royal duties, have you prepared him in any way for this? Or have you simply allowed him to create a mess of this city like his mother did before?” The older male spat out.

“the empress, god rest her soul, has nothing to do with this situation, do not drag names into this hall unless you would like to be dragged out” The emperor stated, raising a hand to motion to Tay who simply rested his hand on his swords handle, glaring at the older council member intimidatingly.

“uh-my apologize…your highness, it’s just your son seems to be- “

“wild? Unruly? Out of place? He seems to be at one with the poor, which no body on the council seems to be? which only helps keep our kingdom together.” The emperor sighed, leaning to the side and asking one of the servants to call on the prince.

“But what about other kingdoms? Our kingdom as one is all good and well, but what will happen if our kingdom is pounded into the dust by those opposing?” Another council member spoke up.

“then we will do what needs to be done!” The only female council member said with a raised voice “I have the upmost courage in Prince New and I believe his rule may be the one to bring peace to both kingdoms like we’ve been trying to do for so many years!”

“silence woman!”

“no, you silence old man” New blurted out as he entered the room, motioning a hand over the second grandest seat “move…”

“but there are no other seats your highness” The elder spoke.

“then sit on the floor like a mongrel, or remove yourself from the room, I don’t care, just MOVE” New demanded, to which the older male did, the prince sprawled carelessly along his chair, glancing up at Tay who stood across the hall, watching as his guard had to turn his face to the side to hide the obvious smile on his face.

Over the past few days they had gotten more acquainted, they understood one another better and they had finally started to get along. Now News childish and bratty behaviour only made Tay laugh or chuckle, breaking his professionalism completely.

Tay glanced over and shook the smile from his own face before taking a deep breath, concealing any possible emotion that could have slipped out.

“can we get back to business?” The emperor questioned, to which the court all agreed and settled back to complete silence. “good, New…son…prince of my kingdom, heir to my throne, you know you have your royal duties to carry out do you not?”

“yes?” New questioned with a raised brow “royal duties? We’re talking sweep the floor in a royal manner? Clear the leaves out of the royal gutters? Feed the royal cat? I’ve mastered all of that, it’s boring” New rolled his eyes, obviously not being serious.

“your royal responsibility from birth has been to carry out an arranged marriage with the princess of our enemies kingdom to ensure peace to the land is withheld” The emperor said, and at his words, New was no longer messing around in his seat and slouching, making faces at Tay, and Tay was no longer trying to stop his laugher as the pair looked at the emperor in a state of complete and utter shock.

New sat in silence for a few moments, thinking over what he had been told, he was to be forced into a marriage, not only with his enemy, but a princess…a woman, a woman he could never love, and never bring himself to love. “what?!” New stood and banged his first on the table in a fit of fury. “you even as my father have no right to sell me off to another kingdom for your peace, you of all people should understand what being trapped in a marriage does to a person, look at mother…she drank some bad wine” New grumbled as he pushed away from the table, pushing his way out of the room, his father following quickly behind, along with Tay who had to carry out his duties of protecting the royal family for this event.

Tay was genuinely shocked, upset? Somehow, surprised? Definitely, something about the news made him uneasy, like this was something he just didn’t want to find out, and perhaps it was just News expression of sudden betrayal that hurt most, watching as he noticed every emotion pass his face, anger, sorrow, rage and pure hatred.

“New! Son! Wait!” The emperor shouted as he caught up with him as New made his way to his room.

“NO! I will not wait! What for? For you to drag me off and hand me away to the highest bidder? To allow you to whore me out for your kingdom? Does my life not mean more to you than some god forsaken crown? Does my happiness total to nothing?” New erupted at his father, shoving the older man away.

“Why are you so upset? You knew this day would come! You need to be married to become emperor when I finally pass! Don’t be so childish!” The emperor snapped, raising his hand to New who fell to his knee’s gripping fistfuls of his father’s robes, tears brimming in his eyes.

“please…please father, don’t force me to marry my enemy, don’t make me marry this strange woman, I beg of you” He spoke through tears. “I can’t ever give her my heart, it already belongs with another, please, allow me a pardon from this, I’ll do anything” He grovelled on his hands and knee’s praying for mercy.

“I’ll grant you this pardon if you give me this lover of yours name” The emperor spoke bitterly, and just from his tone, New knew it was a trick, he would answer and is father would have them put to death, he looked up with red eyes, shaking his head frantically.

“I-I can’t “

“then I can’t grant you a pardon my boy. You must learn that love should not be a thing that you let get in the way of your duty, now give me their name and I will pardon your lover of their crimes against the crown.” The emperor stated.

“w-what? What crimes?!”

“obstructing the royal ruling, which is punishable by death” New felt his heart tighten at his words, banging his fists into his father as he felt himself being dragged up to his feet, shaken by his father’s rough grasp.

“get a grip of yourself, the deal is set…no amount of begging can stop this” The emperor said before allowing New to fall to a heap on the floor, crying as if he was in agony.

He felt like he was dying, crying from a broken heart, a heart that was to be forced unto another. He didn’t want this, he would rather drink poison, now he fully understood why his mother did what she did. His father was controlling and evil, manipulative and vindictive and people were just bargaining chips to him.

Tay rushed in, falling to his knees to hold onto New, hushing him as best he could.

“please New, you need to understand this is only for the best, you need to be with this princess, you never know you may learn to love her finally…” Tay said as he pulled New to his feet slowly, still questioning who this lover could have been.

“how can I love a woman when my heart already belongs to a man?!” New shouted, not caring for those who heard, but Tay knew the danger, grabbing his wrist and pulling him down towards his own room.

“let go of me! Let me go! I can’t even look at you right now, how could you ever think giving me away was a good idea? You think anything the emperor does is perfect…you will fall for every word that he says and do anything he asks like the useless pup you are, you’re so naive and foolish, you have no idea what he’s done, what lives he’s destroyed, who he’ll destroy to get what he wants.” New leaned on his door and tugged his arm away.

“what are you on about?” Tay questioned as he listened to his sorrowful ranting.

“why do you think my mother drank poison?” New wasn’t stupid, he knew by now what had happened. “why do you think the court alchemist was sent to death? And then your own father? Mysteriously dies? You trust everything the emperor tells you…even though he will be your down fall, he will bring about the destruction of this city, of this whole kingdom, and I don’t want to live to see the day he does that, I’d rather follow in my mother’s footsteps!” New said before stepping back, slamming his door shut, sliding and flicking the locks into place that kept Tay out, and kept himself in.

As Tay listened to his mad rambling of poisonings and death, and plots…he felt a sudden wave of panic over him at the mention of New following in his mother’s footsteps, but before he could even enter the room, the door had slammed in his face, unable to be opened from the outside.

“NEW! Open the door! please!” He banged his fists desperately on the door, worrying, terrified that the prince may do something foolish “New I’m begging you! Please!” his voice cracked as he hit the door over and over, begging and pleading, praying that New hadn’t done something foolish.

And on the other side, slowly slipping down the door, New cried, his cry so filled with pain and sorrow, packed with heartbreak that no sound came out, his pain was too great to vocalise. He rested his head back against the door, opening his eyes, and looking across at the mirror ahead of him, the gold of his iris was reflected strongly.

“these eyes, they’ve only become my curse!” He said, hurling the first item he could at the mirrors in his room, ensuring he could no longer look at his image, praying that the pain would stop, if he just shut it all out and pretended to be somebody else, would that stop this? Could he stop the agony his heart felt? It seemed unlikely, now the prince lay on his bed, the ground covered in masses of shattered glass, the banging of Tay fists on his room door still continued, and the more Tay tried to get to him, the greater News heartache was.

                                                                                               

 

* * *

 

 

For the following three days after the news, Tay remained out of the prince’s path, of course not by choice, New wouldn’t unlock his doors to anybody, not him, not his father, not even the royal maids, everybody in the palace was worried for him,  The only thing that alerted them that the prince was in fact alive inside of his room was the distant , muffled cries on the other end of the bronze and jewelled door.

Instead of pestering the prince every second of every day for entrance when what it sounded like he needed was space, Tay had decided to vent his frustration in the only way he knew, returning to the gardens and drinking, drinking until this strange feeling of unease in his chest finally settled, drinking until he no longer felt pained by the prince’s cries that only echoed in his mind. cries so intense that even the toughest of men would feel his heart break. Keeping himself distracted seemed to prove harder than he thought, as the more he drank, the more he questioned just why he had to distract himself, he should have been celebrating, the prince was going to be sent to another kingdom for marriage and he would be able to return to his position in the military wouldn’t he? Or perhaps he would become the next emperors guard for the remainder of his life, perhaps he was fated to follow in his father’s footsteps, perhaps his bloodline was to end like this, a constant cycle of serving those above.

The more he drank, the more he thought about News words, how he mentioned his father’s death…he knew exactly what had happened to the empress, he could recall his father falling through his door, looking like he had just seen a ghost, he remembered watching him cry as if the most painful thing on earth had happened to him…losing the empress hurt his father more than it had affected the emperor. And that’s when Tay started to piece everything together, the lovers feud wasn’t even between the alchemist and the empress, but the alchemist had possibly helped the empress attempt to fake her death to run away with the one that really did mourn her death, his father. He shook his head, feeling ridiculous, feeling like the wine was messing with his mind, but still he drank another cup. ‘idiot…stop these foolish drunken conspiracies’ he thought to himself before pushing himself up to get more air.

Being in the gardens whilst questioning everything he ever thought was true, wasn’t the smartest idea as he found himself thrown off by those around him. Off was living peacefully and happily with Gun, they were beyond civil with other another, living the domestic life that Tay could only have dreamed of, it irritated him. ‘how can’t I live like this?’ he asked himself before pushing further into the city, needing to sober up as his thoughts only picked at him and left him confused.

‘why are you even worried for him?’

‘he’s the prince’

‘you shouldn’t feel so hurt when you think of him’

He kept telling himself off before he shaking his head, hoping that if he was sober again the voices would stop.

‘you care for him…you really care for him’ he told himself, and in that moment he felt like his heart sunk.  “I…I” he looked around frantically for a distraction, Thorn fell back onto his mind. “excuse me! Sorry, what evening is this?” Tay asked one of the residents of the lower city.

“Saturday…” They responded and Tay only smiled, thanking them. Tonight, was the night that he had promised to find Thorn again, but whilst the moon reached its highest point, he feared he wouldn’t know exactly where to go.

He was already so distracted, such a mess, and so confused, his mind moving from thorn to the prince and back again like he couldn’t decide which person he wanted to think of, the reason for his confusion…or his distraction.

After a while of wandering the city, sobering himself up as he ventured, he could only think about the prince, wondering if New was alright, if he was lonely, if he was eating well or if he was even alive in that room anymore, he had never seen him sad before, but seeing all of his sorrow in one go, it hurt more than anything. ‘perhaps…’ he stopped by the guards entrance to the palace. ‘visiting him once wouldn’t hurt, would it? He just wanted to check on him, it’s not like he expected his door to be unlocked after all.

The walk up the palace stairs was like always, tedious and exhausting, Why New had the room at the top of the palace he would never know, but perhaps it had something to do with helping him sleep better, Tay knew after each venture up and down all he could think about was slipping off into his bed for the night.

Reaching the top, there were no maids, no guards, there wasn’t even a tray of food left outside like usual, it seemed those of the palace had just forgotten the prince was up here, or perhaps, they didn’t want to think of him…ignoring his existence wouldn’t stop his pain.

“your highness…” Tay spoke quietly

No response

“New you can’t hide in here until the day you die” Tay said through slight annoyance now, pressing a hand on the large jewelled doors, feeling them push open freely, the locks no longer holding them closed.

“finally, you open the doors, do you know how ridiculous you’ve been acting these past few days?” Tay asked as he looked up at the scene in front of him, New still slouched beside the balcony, crying, how he hadn’t died of dehydration Tay would never know. The mirrors of the room still remained smashed on the floor from the days prior, and there was no light in the room apart from candles that burned at their ends and the moon at its highest point beating down on the prince.

Tay looked at the balcony and felt strange for a brief moment, almost nervous to speak, what part of the kingdom was higher than the prince’s balcony? nothing, the moon at its highest point, resting on the highest point, he was sceptical, but as he parted his lips to speak, he just needed to know.

“Thorn?” Tay muttered quietly.

At the mention of this name, New turned his head slightly to the area in which the voice had come from, the moonlight catching the gold of his eyes for a brief moment, appearing brighter than ever.

“N-no” Tay choked out as he found himself leaning against the palace door, looking at the beyond familiar golden eyes of the man he had been looking for. “this does NOT get to turn out like this!” Tay snapped as he made his way over to New, grabbing his face in both hands so he couldn’t look away from him again. Once he had finally confirmed who’s eyes they were…Tay only threw his hands down, stepping away from New who looked up at Tay in complete sorry and desperation. “how long were you going to hide this from me?!” Tay felt fooled, as if he was the centre of a huge joke.

New grabbed at Tay’s wrists, shaking his head frantically, stuttering out his words. “I…I swear I hid nothing form you, I just couldn’t tell you, I wanted to…but I couldn’t, even more now than ever” his voice cracked as he tried to explain himself.

“what was I to you? Something to lead on? Something to distract yourself from your usual boring life? Was I just a joke to you?” Tay asked bitterly, feeling hurt.

“NO!  I swear everything I felt towards, everything I feel towards you, it’s sincere, but I found you were my guard, and I knew I couldn’t ever tell you. But I chose to be selfish and keep this going, keep seeing you at the gardens, then they told me I was to be married and I…I couldn’t tell you, it hurt too much” he sobbed out, pleading with Tay to not run from him, to hear him out.

“you couldn’t tell me?! How the fuck could you not tell me?” Tay moved his hands, gripping his wrists tightly “how could you not tell me I’m in love with the prince?!” Tay blurted out, feeling his eyes sting with tears, everything he thought he knew, everything that he had been living by, it was all fake. There was no Thorn, all of his feelings were for New…which only helped his mind ease what confused him so greatly.

There were feelings present for New, of course there was, that was something Tay just couldn’t deny. But Thorns existence was the only thing that helped him keep duty and love separated. Now that he knew that there was no thorn it was like all of those feelings he pushed to the back of his mind finally came forward, confusing him, but all at the same time it all became clearer for him.

New looked at Tay, shocked at his words, feeling himself choke back the words he was going to say, he hadn’t expected this, never in a million years did he ever expect to hear somebody tell him in return they loved him. Sure, he mocked Tay for loving ‘thorn’ but to hear him admit that he in fact was in love with him? And not his persona? it was like he struggled to take it seriously, as if he was scared to be hurt.

Neither of them spoke, New was a mess, looking up at Tay, silently begging that he spoke, that he said something to him, that he didn’t hate him for what he had done.

At this moment in time, Tay felt nothing but betrayal from the prince, but as he met his eyes, it was like all of those feelings of anger were pushed to the back of his mind, he had fallen head over heels for the person behind the golden eyes, he had fallen in love with New, no matter how childish and bazaar it seemed right now.

“say something…please” New begged.

Tay simply moved his grip from his wrists to rest on the back of his neck and hips as he slowly pulled New close to him. “I- I can’t help myself around you…” He admitted quietly before pulling News body against his, instigating the kiss that left New clinging onto Tay desperately. The pair stumbling back towards the bed as they lost all sense of direction when losing themselves in the kiss. Tay really couldn’t help himself; News lips were like a drug to him at this point, he grew agitated and angered when he couldn’t get his fix.  And this moment just felt so right, his lips were something he wouldn’t forget, this only let him know that the person he found really was the person he was prepared to give his heart away too.

They had both gotten caught up in their actions, tugging at the lace of each other’s shirts, slipping the robes from Tay’s shoulders whilst Tay practically tore the shirt from New. Neither of them going gentle as the wrapped themselves in the blankets, tumbling over one another carelessly, not caring those who came in, because at this moment in time all they cared about was each other, the candles finally burning out as they remained by one another                                                                                                                                                                                                      


	10. Chapter 10

As the morning sun rose above the balcony once again, the golden haze of the sunlight showering the room in a rich warm tone, reflecting on the smashed mirrors that still remained cascaded across the prince’s marble floor, scattering small glistening lights around the room. And for the first time in months, perhaps even years, New wanted to wake up, he wanted to enjoy the early morning, the birds no longer irritated him, thinking of the open balcony no long scared him, this arranged marriage? It was nothing to him as of this moment. Right now, all he could think of was how incredibly at peace he felt, how Tay made him feel so warm even though the morning breeze pricked his skin with a soft scattering of Goosebumps. How although his world was crumbling around him, how everything he knew and believed was fake, how his kingdom was falling and how he was to be whored out for peace…even though he felt like there was no good left in the world, he didn’t fret, he had Tay. ‘he’ll protect me’ he told himself as he wriggled slightly in the bed, looking up at the Tay figure lying in his bed, watching as his long silky black lashes gently fluttered open as New caressed his cheek, like his soft touch was enough to disrupt his obviously not so intense slumber,

“my face isn’t for you to touch” Tay mumbled slightly as he wrapped his arms around New more securely and pulled him closer, their bare chests pressed together closely, hiding the small bruises that New had left scattered over Tay’s chest the night prior after  a rather emotional and heated session between them both.

“it was last night…” New spoke as he gently trailed his fingertips up and down the other males arm before cupping his cheek once again, caressing his features gently with his thumb, enjoying this moment more than he had ever enjoyed any other.

“that was different…” Tay sighed as he raised a hand to meet News, holding it firmly before leaning into it ever so slightly “we were…distressed? Emotional?”

“you’re trying to tell me what we did was because we just wanted sex? Nothing other than that? No feelings attached?” there was a trace of disappointment in his tone, he had just poured his heart out to him the night before, and Tay had also done the same to him, but still his guard seemed to not want him. He slowly pushed himself up from Tay’s side, feeling his arms still wrapped around his waist. He didn’t want to be somebodies side plan, he didn’t want to be a dirty stop out for when he felt like he needed release from his usual duties, he wanted love, pure and real. It only seemed that Tay didn’t want this, and he knew he couldn’t force him.

“New…I” Tay spoke softly as he propped himself up, kissing along his shoulder gently from behind. “that wasn’t what I meant…” he simply stayed silent as he held him.

“then what?” New preferred answers.

“New…” Tay moved once again and took his face in his hands “I love you…more than anything, I would do anything for you…really…” Then there was that dreaded pause as Tay began to question his own morals, questioning if what he was doing was correct, or good, if he should even be with him, because after all…this was a disruption of the royal order, this was treason.

“then don’t let anybody take me away…please” New sounded so sad, it hurt his heart, it seriously hurt more than anything as he watched the man, he had fallen for practically crumble in his hands.

“I-I…can’t” Tay’s sense of duty was just too strong, he put duty over heart once again, and it was foolish, he knew it was, but he couldn’t do anything in this situation, not with the prince, his hands were tied. “I can’t be with you…not like you want me to…hey, hey look at me” Tay tilted his head up as he watched how New reacted “I can’t promise you the life you wanted, but I can promise to remain by your side forever…”

New only tilted his head and looked at him in total bewilderment. “so, you’ll seriously let them marry me off? To some woman?!” New raised his hands and hit Tay’s away, not wanting to even touch him, he felt hurt when Tay  couldn’t respond how he wanted him to, how he wanted him to never let him go, stay by his side forever, love him more than life…he only wanted this, was that too much to ask for? Apparently, it was.

Tay gulped and shook his head “I-I can’t stop this, I know- I really know that this is the worst thing for you, but it’s hurting me too, I have to watch somebody I love be forced away with another woman. I can’t stop this even if I wanted to…even if I could, I wouldn’t” Tay admitted, only making this worse for himself as New glared at him for his response. “it’s what’s best for the kingdom”

There it was, the Duty crazed guard he knew and despised showed himself once again.

“what about what’s best for me? Hmm?” New turned away from him, looking towards the balcony, towards the area that once seemed warm and beautiful, now it seemed cold and something to be feared again.

“what about it?” Tay asked so foolishly, not even realising the pain this was putting New through, too busy thinking of keeping his name clean to wonder how New would feel, their love was mutual, but New had fallen so much harder and further than Tay ever could.

“what…what about it? How can you be like this?! “New threw his head around, a motion so swift and sudden that it could give those unprepared whiplash. “when I’m Thorn you act so in love with me, like you can’t get enough of me, like you treasure only me and everybody else in the room goes away…but as New? You won’t even look at me, you treat me like a responsibility, like I’m part of your job description, like I DON’T have feelings…like I’m not allowed them, but you are” The hurt in his voice was audibly noticeable, it seriously hurt Tay’s heart, watching as his glistening gold eyes pooled with tears of pure frustration and pain.

As Tay looked over his eyes, the part of him that made him love him so greatly, it was like he felt a lightness in his chest, a fluttering feeling that he had felt the night before and every night before that. He had allowed his honour and responsibilities cloud his mind of what was really important, that person who meant everything to him sat in front of him, tears traveling slowly down his cheeks. How could somebody be so beautiful as they cried?

“N-New…” Tay gently tilted his head up to look at him, admiring his features every time he looked at him, from the golden rings of his eyes, to the messy brown hair on his head and the slight red lip paint still stuck in his chapped lips. He had kissed him so often, how on earth were his lips still so rough? “I-I’m sorry” he spoke from the heart, sincerity pouring from him. “no matter who you’re with, why you’re with them…no matter how far I must go…I will ALWAYS be by your side, I will always be waiting for you, and only you” Tay said as he looked at the love of his life who seemed deep in thought before he let out a small sniffle, finally breaking the silence.

“if…if I am to marry this woman, promise you’ll be with me still, promise me you won’t run from me, you won’t leave me. I know the dangers, I know how wrong it is, I know…just please” New practically begged.

“New- “Tay couldn’t do this, he wanted to be by his side, but remaining with the prince like this? It would be wrong. “I can’t…”

His words were cut short when he felt News hand on his cheek, caressing it gently before holding his head up to his level, oh god here came those butterflies, why couldn’t they just boil in his stomach already? Why couldn’t they stop making him so weak? “you know you love me” Tay listened to News words drawing out more and more, he found himself unable to look away from his lips, like he was entranced by his beauty, by him.  “so…do this for me…please Tay?” New whined gently, getting Tay’s full attention finally.

“I…” Tay decided it was best not to speak any more, nodding slightly at his words. He had no idea when he fell in love with him, seriously, he didn’t have the slightest idea, but he knew he loved him and wanted him. “we…” Tay sighed “we need to get up” he spoke quietly “I- I need to get up, I need to get ready” Tay sighed and began to move from the bed, no matter how hard it was to pull his line of sight away from New.

“I don’t think so” New purred out as he grabbed Tay’s arm, dragging him back down onto the bed, leaning over him, admiring the hazed expression on his face. “I don’t want your work ruining this movement…” New huffed out slightly.

“what? What moment?” Tay asked as he looked up at the prince who was crouched above him, hands on either side of his waist.

“this” New spoke quietly as he leaned down slightly, a smirk forming on his lips as he watched Tay lean up to meet his lips needily, he enjoyed just how desperate Tay seemed for physical contact, especially when it was only for him.

Their lips brushed against one another before he completely leaned down, catching his lips in a heated and passionate kiss, both of them holding onto one another, gripping at the sheets and lacing fingers through one another’s hair, small groans and soft moans were exchanged, their lips not parting for a split second, not for anything that didn’t deepen their kiss anyway.

Finally, Tay was the first to break the kiss, placing his hand on News’s forehead, splitting them both apart before it continued any further between them both.  “w-woah?” Tay stuttered out weakly, only gaining a short laugh from New.

“what?” New asked as he looked over him.

“uh…I…I wanna do that again” Tay said as he moved his hand, trying to pull New back down for a kiss, only to be stopped again, which wasn’t fair, he wanted him now, he started it.

“Nope, I thought you had had enough?” New asked as he sat up completely. Grinning ever so slightly as he watched Tay grabbing onto his arm, he looked needy.

“if you aren’t going to touch me…then can I ask you a question? And if you don’t answer…you have to kiss me like that again, got it?”

“sure…go for it, ask away” New asked with a small smile, looking over Tay and his messy bed hair.

“that night we met, the first night we had ever met, I can’t remember it…you used that snake venom on me…why?” Tay questioned as he got comfortable on the bed.

“hmmm…well I had showed you my face straight away, but you looked like you were having a minor heart attack after you had realised you just had your tongue down the prince’s throat…so I had to do something…make sure you didn’t remember me” New sighed.

“I kind of never want to forget you now, don’t…and I’m telling you off this time, don’t EVER do that to me again, no matter how tricky or tough the situation, I want to remember every second of every moment, every single day with you, from now until the day you finally get sick of me and throw me out like the old hag I am.” Tay snuggled into his arm, feeling New play with his hair.

“huh? I would never throw you out” he kissed the top of his head before he felt himself being pulled back into the bed with Tay, tumbling into the silk sheets. “you’re my whole world Tay, I wouldn’t throw you out, I wouldn’t even trade you for a newer model”

“really? And you’re being serious? Because I can and WILL kick your ass if you’re lying to me, I don’t want to waste my time with somebody that doesn’t want me as badly as I want him” Tay sighed and rested his head on his chest.

“you don’t need to worry about anything like that” New sighed, playing with his hair.

They laid on the bed for the remainder of the day, talking about their lives, joking about their traits and what they liked and disliked, just enjoying the company of one another. The longer they laid together, the more they found themselves inseparable, not wanting to break apart from one another. “what’s with the smile?” Tay asked as he looked up at New, feeling all light and nervous around him again,

“hmm? I’m smiling cause I’m happy…can’t I do that?” New asked simply.

“well yeah…can I do something else?” Tay asked as he leaned up to his lips going to kiss him once again.

As his lips were inches from News, he felt Tay press a finger to his lips “wanna go bathe.”

“but- “

“no buts. Either wait for me or go back to your room…” New grinned

“what if I want you now? Huh?”

“too bad, meet me later. Then you can have what you wanted” New got up from the bed, looking towards his door. “can you make it up before the maids get here?” He grinned, calling on them, watching as Tay scrambled for his robes, running towards the door.

“new! What if I didn’t get dressed in time? What if I was a mess? Huh? We would have been caught” Tay whined before he was silenced with a peck on the lips.

“go…rest…get clean…I’ll see you later” New chimed before pushing Tay out into the hall. Slamming the door shut and leaning against it, smiling to himself like an idiot, thinking of the day he had just spent with him.


End file.
